The Raven Files
by LeCinnamonTsundere
Summary: Title is self-explanatory: a collection of old/abandoned plots I've had lying around that I decided to dig up. I'm tentatively holding onto these, but I most likely won't be working on them. (Rated T for safety) Latest Plot: Agents of D.R.A.G.O.N.
1. Alternate Plot

**All rightee, this is new. Soooo . . . hiya.**

 **Okay, so first thing - I will not be updating (I mean, I haven't been for awhile, but though you oughta know) for the next couple of days, because I'll be on vacation and I'm not bringing my computer. I will be, however . . . _WATCHING THE NINJAGO MOVIE!_** **YESSSSSSSSSSS! I'm watching it with some buddies for their birthday, cuz everything's better with friends! :D**

 **All right, now that I've got that out of the way, here's the haps for this story:**

 **In a sentence, it's a scrap and junkyard for old plots and stuffs that I lost interest in or just cringe at. But some of these may turn into stories . . . if I label them a certain way.**

 **Okay, so here's the labeling system: if I label something "junk", it's beyond hope. I'm not going to turn it into a story, no matter how hard you beg me. If it's labeled "scrap", that means I'm most likely going to do something with it in the future. None of these stories are part of my universes, either Alpha, Beta, or Gamma (please check my profile for explanations about my universes).**

 **You're probably asking yourselves "why the heck is she doing this?" Well, I guess . . . uh . . . it's because I've been on here for nearly two years now, and I want to open up a little more. So . . . yeah. For some reason I'm in a bit of a bad mood, so sorry if it shows here.**

 **So, here's the first junked plot: apart from a few spelling mistakes which I have fixed, I have not touched this story since the date I will give:**

* * *

 **Title: Alternate Plot**

 **Summary: a what-if scenario regarding the Ninjago episode "The Forgotten Element"**

 **Status: junk: incomplete, and bits and pieces are missing in the beginning**

 **When I Last Worked On It: January 1st, 2016**

 **Notes: when I use the last name "Forthright" when referring to Cole, this was before I adopted the last name "Brookstone" for Cole.**

 **Random Fact: My version of Cole has had many last name changes: first it was "Lodestone" (a magnetic rock), "Royallot" (Sherlock Holmes reference), "Forthright" (just a cool last name), "Whittaker" (Adventures in Odyssey reference), and finally "Brookstone" (one of the fanon last names for Cole)**

* * *

Kai, Jay, and the remaining Elemental Masters had been eliminated from the Tournament of Elements, and awaiting judgement from Master Chen. They knew that Chen planned to drain their Elemental powers to perform some sort of spell, but of what kind, they didn't know.

The other Elemental Masters looked fearful and depressed. Jay was the only one in a good mood. He was even humming cheerfully as they were led into the Anacondrai temple, hands chained behind their backs. "Why are you humming?" Kai hissed. "You know they're gonna take our powers."

"Because these cursed shackles block our Elemental powers," Jay replied evenly, "I choose to use the power of positive thinking. Lloyd will come save us. You just wait." He was also relieved that Nya, who had spied on and stolen the spell Clouse, Chen's right hand, needed, had escaped, and no doubt was with Lloyd and Sensei Garmadon.

Clouse held a thick spell book under his arm. Chen's daughter, Skylor, was standing with him, avoiding looking to Kai's eyes. She had used his feelings for her to betray him to Master Chen.

"Go ahead and look away," Kai said to Skylor. "But you know as well as I do that after he takes our powers, he'll still need yours."

"You don't understand," Skylor said. "My father gets everything he wants. I had no choice."

"Just one thing," Kai said. "Was it his idea to make me fall for you, or yours? Because it worked."

Skylor gasped, then blushed.

"Lock 'em down," a guard ordered. The prisoners were forced to one knee.

* * *

"All rise for Master Chen!" Clouse commanded.

As the Anacondrai worshippers chanted and beat the drums, Master Chen's throne flew in through the ceiling, and the worshippers started cheering. "Look at me! I'm floating!" Chen cheered, hovering around the room. His throne stumbled slightly, but Chen retook control. "I've got it, I've got it, just a little distracted by how awesome this place looks!"

Chen's throne touched down in the center of the temple, Skylor and Clouse standing at either side.

* * *

 **(insert scene where Jay says something about Lloyd coming back to rescue them; I know it's in this episode somewhere)**

Master Chen gave him a glance, then whispered something to Clouse. Clouse nodded. "Release the Master of Lightning," he ordered.

Confused, the guards did as they were told. Jay was dragged off to one side, hands still chained behind his back. Jay was even more surprised. So were the other Elemental Masters. "You're letting him go just because he's got a positive attitude?" Griffin Turner, the Master of Speed, complained.

"Oh, no, I'm not letting him go," Master Chen said amiably. "I merely have other plans for him." Then, he raised his staff. The Elemental Masters struggled as their powers were drained into the staff.

Jay averted his eyes, disappointment and worry welling up inside him. _He didn't come,_ he thought.

Skylor had to stifle a gasp of horror as she watched Kai's power disappearing into the crystal on Chen's staff. Then the Masters dropped to the floor, panting hard, powers gone. As they were about to be led away, Skylor straightened. "Wait, Father!"

Chen turned toward Skylor. "Please spare Kai, Father," she pleaded. "I've seen inside his head. He's different. He can help you."

"You like the boy? If it will make you happy," Chen shrugged. "Release the red one." Kai's chains were struck off, and the other Elemental Masters were led away to the noodle factory.

Before Chen strolled off with Kai, he whispered orders into Clouse's ear. Clouse nodded. Then, he turned to Jay. "Master Chen would like a word with you once he's finished with Master Kai," he said. To the guards, he ordered, "Take him to the throne room, and keep him under careful guard. Understand?"

The guards nodded. "Why would a guy like Chen want a word with me?" Jay wondered aloud.

One of the guards shrugged. "Beats me. Now, get moving!"

* * *

In the factory, Cole and Zane, in disguise, watched as the new workers were pushed to their work stations. "Good thing Jay, Kai, and Lloyd aren't here," Cole muttered.

"Maybe that's not a good thing," Zane pointed out.

Cole looked worried. He spoke to Neuro, the Master of Mind, as discreetly as he could. Neuro was now working across from him and Zane on the factory line. "Do you know what happened to Jay and Kai?"

Neuro nodded. "Jay was spared for the time being. Chen said he had special plans for him. Kai was stripped of his powers, but Chen released him as well. He sounded like he's got plans for him too."

Cole groaned. "That doesn't sound good. We could use Jay's mechanical know-how right about now."

* * *

Jay met with Master Chen in his throne room, where the Tournament all started. "You're probably wondering why I spared you, aren't you?" Chen asked.

Jay shrugged. "I suppose. It might be because you're a really nice guy at heart, and thought you'd show me a little mercy. Or not."

Master Chen burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha! Very funny, Jay! Your optimism and your sense of humor are quite refreshing for me."

"Glad to hear it," Jay replied smoothly. "Now could you get down to the brass snakes and tell me why you spared me?"

"Brass snakes," Chen giggled, "hee hee hee! I like it! Of course I will tell you, because I _am_ a merciful man." He fiddled with the buttons lining his throne armrests. "You see, Jay, I'm very fond of entertainment, as you know, and life can get so monotonous and dull. Even taking the powers from helpless Elemental Masters can get so _boring_." Chen sighed. "That's where you come in. I've been favoring you since I first saw you, and when I didn't."

"Favoring me in a good sense for both of us?" Jay asked nervously. "In a bad sense for me, in a bad sense for you, or just downright bad?"

"I'll get back to you on that." Chen's eyes were fixed on Jay with a maliciously hungry gaze.

Jay gulped. _He wants me as some kind of entertainment for him?_ he thought worriedly.

"I know of the spy girl's affection for you," Master Chen said. "When I mentioned you were injured to Clouse the other night, she seemed very worried about you."

Jay's cheeks burned bright red with embarrassment. Nya still liked him? "What would you give to be able to see her again?" Chen wheedled.

"I'd give anything!" The words were out before Jay could stop himself. Now _his_ feelings for Nya were out in the open for Chen to see.

"Even your Elemental Power?" Chen's eyes glowed with a dangerous light.

"It was a trap," Jay realized. "You were trying to get me to say I'd give up anything, and then you'd take my power for sure!"

Master Chen shrugged. "More entertainment for me, as you know. And you'll provide more entertainment even your powers are gone."

"What do you mean?" Jay was growing more and more nervous by the minute.

"Aah, I'll explain later." Chen clapped his hands, and the two guards who had been blocking the door came in. "Take him back to the temple," he ordered.

Jay was dragged out of the room, kicking and struggling as he yelled, "You won't get away with this, Chen!"

"Oh, I already have," Chen said, grinning evilly.

As they left, another guard ran into the throne room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Jay and his escort were just out of earshot, and Jay wasn't the Master of Sound. So when the guard reported that Nya and Sensei Garmadon had been captured, Jay wasn't around to hear it.

"Excellent," Master Chen cackled. "Clouse can have Garmadon. Bring the girl Nya to me. My plan is falling into place."

* * *

Once Jay and his escort reached the temple, he was held firmly by his arms and shoulders and forced to one knee. Chen's throne lowered down into the room with dramatic fanfare, blending in with the tone of his worshippers chanting and beating the drums. Jay knew they were chanting the Anacondrai code: "Only one can remain", which was also the motto of the Tournament of Elements. He tried to break his escort's grip, but he didn't have Cole's super-strength, or any strength for that matter. He fell to his knees, panting hard.

"Straighten up," a guard ordered, kicking him roughly.

"Take a chill pill, dude," Jay snapped.

"And besides," the other guard reminded the first one, "he's supposed to be kneeling for Master Chen anyway, right?"

"All rise for Master Chen!" Clouse announced.

"Never mind that," the second guard muttered. The first guard smirked as he kicked Jay again.

Jay did a back kick into the first guard's gut before standing up. The second guard stifled a laugh as the first guard clutched his stomach and groaned. Jay smirked back at him. " _YOU_ straighten up."

He stood straight as a pole and stone-faced as Master Chen grinned evilly back at him. "I have a surprise for you, Jay," he giggled in a sing-song voice.

"Boy, I can't wait to see it," Jay muttered under his breath.

"Clousy-Clouse!" Chen sang out.

Clouse bowed, then exited the temple. He returned a few minutes later, pushing a bound and gagged prisoner in front of him. Jay's eyes widened in shock. " _NYA!"_

"JAY!" Nya cried, shaking her gag off.

"Like my little surprise?" Chen giggled delightedly. "Remember what you said earlier about saying that you'd give up anything to see Nya again?"

"You said that?" Nya blushed bright pink.

Jay's cheeks burned bright red. He stared at his feet to hide his embarrassment. "Yes," he mumbled.

"Now, let's see about that anything." Chen pretended to be in deep thought. Clouse held Nya's shoulders as he stood next to Chen. "I got it!" Chen's eyes gleamed. "Your Elemental power!"

"No, don't!" Nya pleaded.

"Any last words?" Chen asked Jay flippantly.

Jay looked directly at Nya, even though his cheeks felt sunburned with embarrassment. "I love you, Nya," he said quietly. "Even if you like Cole more than me, I'll always love you."

Tears ran down Nya's cheeks. "Oh, Jay!" She managed to break away from Clouse long enough to throw her arms around Jay and kiss him. "I love you, Jay," she whispered in his ear. "No matter what some machine says, I'll always love you. _You're_ my perfect match."

Then Clouse managed to drag Nya back. Jay's cheek was still tingling from her kiss. He smiled at her, truly happy.

Master Chen had covered his eyes. "All right, all right, enough with the romance!" he complained. Jay was forced back down to his knees, and his hands were chained to the floor. Master Chen pointed his staff at Jay. A white wind came streaking out of the staff, and seemed to be sucking out Jay's Elemental essence. Jay cried out in pain as he was pulled almost clean off the floor. Bright blue lightning was forced out of him, the force of the staff draining his Elemental power.

"No!" Nya cried, trying to break free, but Clouse had an iron grip on her shoulders. She was forced to watch as Jay's powers were sucked out of him.

Jay dropped to his knees, power completely drained, breathing hard and coughing. His right leg began to throb; he had injured it when a painting fell on top of him. When he tried to stand up, he cried out again and collapsed as his leg continued to throb painfully. Nya desperately wanted to help him, but she couldn't move.

"You know what to do with them." Chen waved his hand dismissively. "And fix up Jay's leg; he can't dance with a hurt foot."

"What?" Jay was confused. "Aren't I needed in the factory?"

"Remember what I said about you providing entertainment even after I took your powers?" Chen's eyes glinted with a dangerous light.

Jay and Nya realized what Chen had in mind at exactly the same moment. " _What?!_ No!"

"Oh, yes," Chen nodded, a wickedly mischievous smile playing on his face. "I think you will fit in nicely as my newest, and favorite, Kabuki servants."

* * *

Jay and Nya were taken to the quarters where the Kabuki, Chen's servants and entertainment, did their costumes and makeup. Clouse handed a Kabuki girl a slip of paper with instructions on dressing Jay and Nya, then left to wait outside the dressing room door.

After studying the paper, the Kabuki clapped her hands. She whispered some instructions to her companions, who then split up into two groups. One took Nya to a separate room, another stayed behind to work on Jay.

Jay was pushed into a chair, and another Kabuki girl advised, "Hold still." Two dancers held his head steady while a third started powdering Jay's face with white Kabuki paint. Jay tried hard not to sneeze as the makeup irritated his face.

Once his face and hands were completely white with Kabuki makeup, Anacondrai markings were painted on his cheeks with red makeup. One of the Kabuki girls brushed stray makeup out of Jay's messy hair. Another made a suggestion to dye Jay's hair black, but the Kabuki girl with the instructions shook her head no. "Master Chen's orders," she explained.

Jay noticed some of the Kabuki men eyeing him with jealousy. With his bright auburn orange hair and red Anacondrai face markings, he would definitely stand out as Master Chen's pet Kabuki. Jay eyed them with anxiety.

He was dressed in ornate blue men's Kabuki robes, embroidered with golden Anacondrai symbols. The thick red and purple sash tied around his waist was tied a little too tightly for Jay's liking. His leg was treated and rebandaged carefully, but it still looked bulky compared to the rest of his outfit. His hair was styled in a fancy man's upsweep not unfamiliar to Jay. Despite his makeover, Jay still stood out among the Kabuki servants. None of them wore blue robes, or had intricate red face markings, or auburn hair.

 _I look ridiculous,_ he thought as he checked himself out in one of the room's many mirrors. _At least Nya looked fantastic as a Kabuki._

Just then, Nya was escorted back into the room, wearing the same disguise she wore as a spy for the Ninja among the Kabuki. Suddenly Jay wanted to hide in a corner until he looked like his normal self.

* * *

Nya didn't really know what to make of Jay in his Kabuki outfit.

With his leg bandaged, his face covered in makeup, wearing long flowing Kabuki robes, and his fancy modern hairstyle, Jay looked very uncomfortable, out of his comfort zone. In different circumstances, Nya might have started laughing, but she knew how he felt, because she didn't feel that comfortable either, and didn't want to make him feel embarrassed than he probably already felt. Though, she had to admit, he did look kinda cute, in a Kabuki sense.

Jay wanted to shrink into a ball, he was so embarrassed. Then, Nya surprised him with a comforting kiss on the cheek. "We'll get out of this," she whispered in his ear. "I know we will."

Jay relaxed into a smile. He was going to reply when an impatient knock came on the door. "Are the new servants ready?" Clouse called.

"Yes, Master Clouse!" a Kabuki girl called. She handed the pair fans, and gave them smiles. "Good luck," she whispered. Then two other Kabuki escorted Jay and Nya out the door, delivering them to Clouse.

Jay and Nya followed Clouse to Chen's throne room, where other Kabuki were dancing and serving Master Chen. "Excellent!" Chen cackled gleefully. He beckoned for Jay and Nya to sit beside him. "That leg must hurt," he remarked sympathetically to Jay. "I'll let you two off easy for today, because you're my favorites, but tomorrow, you'll get right to work. Understand?"

Jay and Nya exchanged an invisible glance. They had to play the part of servants for now. "Yes, Master Chen," they chorused, bowing respectfully. Then they took their seats next to Chen's throne.

Jay massaged his leg gingerly. "How did you hurt yourself?" Nya whispered.

"A painting of your brother fell on top of me," Jay whispered back. "Long story." He managed to tell her everything that had happened since they met up with them at one of Chen's feasts, while not attracting much attention.

Some of the Kabuki girls on the sidelines giggled and blushed when they spotted Jay at Chen's side. "Who is he?" one girl murmured.

"He must be Master Chen's new favorite," another replied.

"He's soooo cute," a third sighed dreamily.

* * *

"I need Kabuki to go check on progress in the factory!" Master Chen sighed. "You, and you!" He pointed at two Kabuki girls, who immediately stopped dancing. "Take these two with you to inspect the factory!" He then pointed at Jay and Nya. Jay's leg was feeling slightly better, but he still had to walk with a weak sort of skip step.

Nya helped hold him steady as he walked with a timid step, trying hard not to put too much weight on his injured foot.

As they followed the two Kabuki through the tunnels underneath the palace, Jay and Nya tried to keep track of where they went, but the labyrinth of tunnels and corridors looked so much alike that their heads were beginning to throb trying to tell one passage from another. Jay had snuck down in the tunnels before, with Cole, Kai, and Lloyd, but he was getting so lost that he was starting to grow dizzy.

Suddenly, the two Kabuki stopped, then turned to face Jay and Nya. The had been in a whispered conversation while waiting for them to keep up, Nya hindered because she was helping Jay.

"Listen," one of the Kabuki girls said. Jay recognized her as the one who had escorted him to his quarters at the beginning of the Tournament. "When we reach the factory, we'll tell Zugu that you two were sent to inspect. If he asks why we're here," she gestured to herself and her companion, "We'll tell him you're new and unused to the tunnels."

"But what if he asks about me?" Jay asked. "I don't look like a regular Kabuki."

"He knew of Master Chen's plan for you and the spy girl, Master Jay," the other Kabuki girl said. She seemed older than the first one. "He'll most likely not ask questions about you."

"We'll talk to the guards while you two can pretend to inspect," the younger Kabuki explained, "when you can really help your friends in the factory escape. We know of their plans from multiple visits to the factory."

"But doesn't Master Chen know he's been sending the same two over and over again?" Nya asked. "And why haven't you ratted on the factory workers, anyhow?"

"To answer your first question," the older Kabuki said, "Chen can barely keep track of which Kabuki is which; he's got so many." She sighed. "So, yes, we've been sent to inspect the factory more than once."

"Why are you helping us?" Jay asked cautiously.

"This can answer both of your questions," the younger Kabuki said. "Like you, we were forced into service for Master Chen, unaware it was a trap. We don't have many friends among the Kabuki, as we make it a rule not to trust any one of Chen's staff. You, on the other hand, have friends that have a way out of this factory, and a way to freedom, unlike us." She sighed mournfully. "We're hardly ever let out of Chen's sight. And when we are, we're heavily guarded, just to make sure we don't try any tricks. Once a Kabuki, always a Kabuki. We're not allowed our freedom unless that's in Master Chen's whim."

"Which it never is," the older one added.

"And if he thinks we're up to something, we get more labor, and sometimes become snake food for Clouse's pet," the younger said. A tear rolled down her cheek. The older Kabuki girl put a hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

"Thank you for your help," Nya said gratefully. "You're really brave to risk your life for two strangers."

The Kabuki girls exchanged a glance. Then, the younger one said tentatively, "To be honest, you two aren't complete strangers to us."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, slightly puzzled.

"You know our brother, so we've heard a lot about you," the older one explained.

"You two are sisters?"

They nodded. "My name is Cadance Forthright," the younger Kabuki said.

"And I'm Natalie Forthright," the older one said.

"Forthright?" Jay's eyes widened. "You mean you're Cole's sisters?"

Cadance nodded. "I'm his younger sister, and Natalie's his twin."

"Cole's mentioned you before, but he thinks you're still at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts," Nya said.

"We'll explain everything once you're free," Natalie said. "We should get going."

* * *

Cole and Zane were watching the tarp where Karlof was working on the Roto Jet with nervousness. "I can't believe I'm saying this," Cole muttered, "but I wish Jay were here."

Zane's ice-blue eyes suddenly lit up. He frowned. "That's peculiar," he murmured.

"What?" Cole asked, worried.

Before Zane could answer, they heard Zugu open the door to the factory. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Master Chen sent these two to inspect the factory," a Kabuki girl was telling Zugu. There was something about her voice that struck Cole as being familiar.

"Then why are _you_ here?" Zugu demanded.

"They're new and unused to the tunnels, so we were sent to escort them," a second girl explained. Once again, Cole found her voice strangely familiar.

Two more Kabuki bowed respectfully to Zugu. "What happened to your leg?" Zugu asked.

"I, uh, tripped over a table," one of the pair answered.

"That voice sounds like Jay's," Zane muttered.

"You're probably hearing things," Cole replied. But he doubted upgraded Nindroids could "hear things". "Let's just keep working. Keep your head down." The two ninja in disguise kept their heads bent down, Cole's eyes glancing up occasionally. He could see four Kabuki dancers come in, but only from the legs down. The leg of one dancer was bandaged, and he or she was supported by a second dancer.

They moved out of Cole's eyeshot, and Cole bent back down to his work.

* * *

"Do you see Cole?" Jay whispered to Natalie.

Natalie shrugged. "The guards think he's escaped, but I've seen him hiding around." She scanned the room, then gestured to a worker in a work hat. "I think that's him. Cadance and I'll distract the guards while you and Nya talk to him."

"Let's sneak around behind him," Nya suggested. "It would be suspicious if we walked right up to him. And keep your voice down."

* * *

A hand lightly tapped Cole's shoulder. "Psst! Cole!"

"What?" Cole turned around, and almost burst out laughing. Jay clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Quiet," he hissed. "We're trying to do this _secretly_."

"What happened to you?" Cole spluttered. Jay groaned. He was wearing blue Kabuki robes trimmed and embroidered in gold and a thick red and purple obi sash around his waist. Jay's face and hands were covered with white Kabuki paint, he had red Anacondrai designs on his cheeks, and his hair was styled in a fancy modern upsweep. He looked ridiculous.

"Master Chen decided he'd give us the 'honor' of 'joining' his Kabuki staff," Jay said sarcastically.

"Us?" Zane's head did a 360 to have a look at Jay. He had to stifle a laugh.

Jay's eyes brightened at the sight of his old friend. "ZANE?! Is that really you? You look amazing!"

"No worse for wear," Zane replied, smiling.

Nya gasped when she saw Zane. "Zane!" She had to restrain herself from throwing her arms around him and not letting go.

"I don't think we have much time," Jay warned. "Master Noodle Snakes would probably prefer as at his side to touring the factory."

He explained everything that had happened since Cole had been stripped of his powers, and Cole let them in on the escape plan. "We're building a Roto Jet and busting our way out of here!"

"A Roto Jet?" Jay and Nya were confused. "But aren't you underground?"

"That's what I've been saying!" Cole exclaimed.

"Is there anything we can do?" Jay asked.

"We could sure use your mechanical know-how with the Roto Jet," Cole said. "I think Karlof's having trouble with the output fuel-thingy."

"I'll see what I can do." Jay gave Nya a quick nod, who immediately understood his intentions. Then he limped over to the tarp where Karlof was working.

"I believe there are a few people who would like to speak to you, Cole," Nya said.

"Who?" Cole asked, confused.

"Be right back."

She returned with two Kabuki girls. Cole eyed them warily. "Yes?"

The younger of the two stepped forward, and removed her Kabuki wig. Long blond hair tumbled down her shoulders. "Don't you recognize me, big brother?" she asked.

Cole's eyes widened with shock, then delight. "Cadance?!" Then he realized who the other dancer had to be. "Natalie?!"

The older dancer, Natalie, grinned. "It's been awhile, brother." Cole had to restrain his desire to throw his arms around his sisters in his joy at seeing them again.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked. "Dad thinks you're still at Marty Oppenheimer!"

"It's a long story, Cole," Cadance said, "but the short version is: we graduated from the school, and attracted the attention of a certain Master Chen."

Cole clenched his fists. "As soon as we bust out of here," he promised, "I'm gonna come back and get you. You shouldn't be here, or working for a guy like Chen. You deserve better."

Natalie smiled. "That's the twin brother I know and love. But, be careful, please?" She kissed her brother on the cheek.

"It'll be my highest priority," Cole replied, smiling back at his sisters. "You probably should go and check on Jay."

"We will," Cadance said. "See you later, big brother." She gave Cole a quick hug, then she, Natalie, and Nya bowed, and walked away.

* * *

"I think that's about finished," Jay said with satisfaction.

Karlof nodded. "Thanks for help, Jay. Karlof couldn't have finished that fast without you."

"It was my pleasure," Jay said with a smile. His leg had stopped hurting, and he had taken the bandages off. Working on machines always seemed to make him feel better when he was in emotional or physical pain.

"Jay? We should get going." Nya's voice came from the other side of the tarp covering the Roto Jet.

"Gotta go, Karlof," Jay said. "Good luck on the escape."

He backed out from under the tarp, wrapping the bandages back around his foot. He gave Nya a nod, and she immediately understood: the Roto Jet was finished. Natalie and Cadance told Zugu the inspection was complete, and the foursome exited the factory back into the labyrinth. On the way, Jay tossed his bandages into an empty prison cell, as he could walk perfectly fine.

"Master Chen's probably wondering where we are by now," Natalie said worriedly. "I hope we don't get caught."

"Why would he suspect you two?" Nya asked. "He knows Jay and I might try to escape."

"He'll say we were helping you, which is true," Cadance pointed out. "And we'll have no credible alibi if he does."

"That won't happen," Jay assured her. "Like you said, doesn't Chen have a hard time keeping track of who's who in his Kabuki?"

"I guess," Natalie said reluctantly. "but someone completely innocent might get blamed, and we won't just stand there and let someone else take our punishment. Either way, we might get in trouble."

"And either way, we'll help you in every way we can," Nya said. "It's the least we could do to repay you for helping us."

The two girls smiled weakly. "Thank you both for the support."

The four reached the throne room only to find it empty. Master Chen, yawning boredly, was perched atop his throne, tapping his fingers absently against his control panel. "There you four are!" he exclaimed. "Did you get lost in the tunnels again?"

"Yes, Master Chen," Natalie answered obediently.

"Well, you two are dismissed," he waved his hand dismissively to Cadance and Natalie. After the two girls left, Jay and Nya watched Master Chen nervously. "Ah, I see your foot is better," Chen remarked nonchalantly to Jay. "Good, good."

"Yes, Master Chen," Jay mumbled.


	2. Geppetto's Child

**All right, I don't have much time, so I'll do this quickly:**

 **Thank you Loki and MoC for your kind reviews: I'll consider your suggestions :)**

 **Here are the stats on this story:**

 **Title: Geppetto's Child**

 **Summary: a what-if scenario involving Rebooted, loosely inspired by the story of Pinocchio**

 **Status: junk: incomplete, in bits and pieces**

 **When I Last Worked on It: February 24th, 2017**

 **Notes: Alternate universe**

 **Random Fact: the character named Michael is a tribute to Jay's actor, Michael Adamthwaite.**

* * *

 _Once upon a time,  
_ _You're probably aware  
_ _Of a story about a boy  
_ _Carved from cedar-e (wood)._

 _He belonged to Geppetto,  
_ _A kindly old gent  
_ _Who wished his boy to be real  
_ _And presto! The wish went_

 _To the attention of a fairy:  
_ _Blue she was of hue,  
_ _And she told the toymaker  
_ " _Your wish will come true:_

" _Pinocchio (for that was the boy's name)  
_ " _Will walk and talk and act a real boy,  
_ " _But as lifelike as this puppet will be,  
_ " _Pinocchio shall remain a living toy."_

 _But after naughty Pinocchio  
_ _Ran away from Dad  
_ _A lot of adventures  
_ _This toy did . . . had? (Hey, it's tough comin' up with this stuff.)_

 _First he was imprisoned  
_ _By a mad puppeteer,  
_ _Then to a sly fox and cat  
_ _Did Pinocchio lend his ear._

 _Their ways of cunning  
_ _Lost him his money,  
_ _And was further degraded  
_ _By becoming part donkey:_

 _(A tale which I cannot tell now,  
_ _But an easy life for boys was how  
_ _This event took place, and I'd like to say  
_ _Some boys are better off staying that way)_

 _Then with Jiminy Cricket,  
_ _(Oh dear plumb forget him)  
_ _He got swallowed by a whale  
_ _(Lucky he knew how to swim)._

 _Then the half-donkey puppet  
_ _Was reunited with Geppetto:  
_ _(He was swallowed by the whale  
_ _While searching for belov'd Pinocchio)._

 _Then the whale got his medicine  
_ _(A whopping dose of castor oil)  
_ _And with one great heave, father son and cricket  
_ _Popped out like a . . . boil? (Ew. . .)_

 _Apparently wood can breathe  
_ _For Pinocchio seemed drowned  
_ _And Papa Geppetto hurried him home  
_ _Where the Blue Fairy was found_

 _And for Pinocchio's bravery,  
_ _Obedience, and truth,  
_ _With a touch of her wand,  
_ _The puppet became a real youth._

 _And so this story ends,  
_ _With happily ever afters for everyone,  
_ _But you're probably wondering  
_ _Why the title says merely "Chapter One."_

 _For you see, I'm retelling  
_ _This tale with a twist.  
_ _Start the story?  
_ _All right, if you insist._

 _(But, of course,  
_ _I shall not tell it in rhyme,  
_ _For that simply  
_ _Takes too much time. ;) )_

"Stay away from the crazy inventor's place, Mikey!" a ten-year-old boy told his friend. "That guy's a weirdo!"

Michael frowned, a bit confused. "Mr. Walker isn't crazy, Kirby," he said. "He seems pretty nice. Just a little sad, though."

"Yeah, sad he doesn't have any kids to turn into toys!" Kirby shouted.

" _Shh!_ " Michael hissed. "He might hear you!"

"I don't care if that ol' sorcerer hears me or not; he's a freak!" Kirby scoffed. With that, the boy ran off.

Michael was left staring at the friendly-looking door to the home and workshop of Mr. Walker.

OoOoOoO

Mr. Walker wasn't very old; most thought he was in his early thirties, though it wasn't confirmed. He kept himself isolated from the other Wintergate townsfolk. He did offer a greeting to anyone he passed to on the street whenever he _did_ leave his house, and he sold his beautiful handmade clocks and toys at the market on Sundays, but apart from that, no one knew much about Mr. Walker.

Even though kids loved his toys, they were still scared of him, no matter how gentle his smile was or how tenderly he spoke to them.

Michael was determined to prove to the kids that Mr. Walker was just a harmless inventor, toymaker, and clockmaker, not a sorcerer. So he decisively walked toward the sky-blue painted door, even though he could hear Kirby hissing from the shadows, "What are you doing?!"

OoOoOoO

Mr. Walker was dressed in a rather old-fashioned ensemble: a tan work apron over a crisply pressed white collared shirt with a navy blue tie, thin black arm bands placed right above his elbows, and rather dainty brown gloves on his hands. As he stepped from behind the counter, Michael caught a glimpse of black pants and polished brogues from behind the apron.

"Hello there!" he said pleasantly. His voice sounded far younger than Michael supposed it would.

* * *

"How old are you, Mr. Walk―uh, Mr. Jay?" Michael asked.

"Twenty-two," Jay answered quietly.

Michael stared at him in shock, not quite believing someone this young lived by himself. As far as young men went, plenty of Wintergate girls would find Jay attractive, with his thick auburn hair streaked with vivid blue, sparkling sapphire eyes, and slender swimmer's figure.

* * *

"Why do you live by yourself, Mr. Jay?" Michael asked. "Don't you wanna get married and have kids?"

Jay was silent for a few minutes. Once again, Michael saw that sad, lonely look in his eyes that always made the boy want to hug him and tell him everything was okay. Finally, he said, "I . . . I can't get married."

"Why not? Are you engaged to someone already?" Michael asked.

"No. Michael, I can't get married because . . . because I have a condition."

Michael frowned. "You mean like a test?"

"Well, it's a test to me, but more people would call it a disease," Jay explained. Noticing Michael was beginning to edge away, he hastily assured him, "Don't worry, it's not contagious. You can't really tell it's there . . . unless I take my clothes off."

"Is it gross to look at?" Michael asked.

"It's more . . . unusual, than gross," said Jay. "I would show you, but I don't wanna scare you."

"I won't be scared!" Michael said. "I like unusual stuff."

Jay glanced around the room, making sure all the blinds were closed and there was no outside way to look in. Then he slowly removed his gloves and rolled up his sleeves.

Michael stared in fascination at the young man's exposed skin. It was pale white, like his face, but bright blue veins were etched across his hands, intertwined around his fingers, and wrapped around his arms. The veins flickered from blue to white, and they seemed to pulsate like a dying lightbulb. "What is that?" he asked.

"Liquid lightning," Jay answered, gingerly tracing one of the veins on the back of his hand. "You know how I told you I was the Ninja of Lightning?"

Michael nodded.

"Well, there's something else I should tell you too," said the young man. "When I was a Ninja, I fell head over heels in love with my teammate Kai's sister, Nya. After several months of getting to know her better, I finally asked her out on a date. I was so worried she wouldn't like me for who I was, a junkyard boy with no real talents except for inventing, so I did everything I could think of to impress her: dressed up all fancy, styled my hair, even resorting to what Kai told me was cologne, but turned out to be perfume which Nya was allergic to."

Michael wasn't that big a fan of romance, but he couldn't help sniggering at the thought of poor Jay trying desperately to impress his crush. "While those things worked a little, I took it a step further by telling Nya stories about myself which . . . didn't actually happen. I admitted it eventually, and then she told me something that I wish everyone knew. She liked me best when I was me, not some fancy guy with a bunch of cool achievements or talents, but me: goofy, clumsy Jay the junkyard kid."

Jay sighed, nearly losing himself in his reverie. "Well, that went straight to my heart: it destroyed the insecurity that was holding me back from unlocking my True Potential. I could fully harness my Lightning powers. But then. . ."

"Then what?" asked a fully intrigued Michael.

"After the final battle between Lloyd and the Overlord, Ninjago City was rebuilt into a technological masterpiece," Jay continued slowly. "Cole, Zane, Kai, Nya, and I became teachers, and one day, our school went on a field trip to Borg Industries, in the heart of New Ninjago City. While we were there, Nya tried tried out a _Perfect Match_ machine. Maybe you've heard of it?"

"My sister's obsessed with it," Michael said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "She's been saving up for one for months."

"Well, it's a waste of money," Jay said, and for the first time since Michael had met him, he seemed angry. "Nya's analysis came out that her 'Perfect Match' was with Cole, not me. When she eventually told me about it, I asked whether she would trust her heart or a machine." He scoffed contemptuously. "This is the one time I will ever say Nya was stupid. She chose the machine's choice of Cole over me. And just like that, her words to me meant nothing."

Michael suddenly fit the pieces together. "And because the core of your element was linked to your relationship with Nya―"

"―my element has become unstable," Jay finished. "It was only her words―and a kiss she gave me on that day―that enabled me to unlock my True Potential. With that connection gone, my core shattered. I can barely control my element, and its effects on me are clear. The highlights in my hair, the liquid lightning on my skin, my eyes. . . I'm like a city built on sand: my foundation is unstable, I could collapse at any moment."

* * *

"Miss Smith," Jay said coldly. "Or is it Mrs. Brookstone now?"

"It's still Miss Smith, and so far as I know, it will remain that way," the woman replied.

"Well, what do you want?" Jay's unusually crisp tones startled his apprentice.

"When you left, the school shut down, and I got a job as an employee at Borg Industries," Miss Smith said. "Recently Mr. Borg is in need of a new designer, and I suggested you as a possible option."

"I appreciate you thinking of me." The sarcastic note in the young man's voice suggested quite the opposite.

"It's taken me several weeks to find you here," Miss Smith replied, still not betraying any sign of emotion. "Your parents wouldn't tell me where you went, and since none of our former teammates would tell me where you went either, I had to do a little research."

"Well, you found me," Jay shrugged. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've wasted enough time with this conversation. If you don't want to purchase anything, please leave."

"What about the job? That's why I'm here."

"I said, _please leave_." Jay turned his back to the young woman as he bent over his desk. "Michael, will you escort Miss Smith to the door?"

"Yes sir!" Michael was more than eager to break up the awkward situation.

"Wait!" Miss Smith's voice broke. She no longer resembled the stiff businesswoman she had been mere seconds ago, but now a young lady with a desperate plead. "Jay, please, hear me out."

"I already did," Jay snapped, still not turning around. "But since you're being so stubborn, I suppose I can do it again. And please call me by my given name; only my friends can call me Jay."

"James―" Michael was a little bewildered to hear Jay's full first name "―I'm not here to just offer you that job. I wanted to see you again to tell you . . . to tell you I was wrong."

"You were wrong about plenty of things," was Jay's retort. "What are you referring to specifically?"

"The decision I made, the one about you . . . and Cole," Miss Smith's voice quivered. "I made a huge mistake. Dr. Borg told me the console I had stepped on was a prototype, meant only for display purposes. When I stepped on an actual console . . . you were my result. Cole and I are compatible, but you were perfect."

"Huh." Jay didn't sound in the least bit surprised or interested. "Well, it's a little late to get back together. You trusted that machine before and it was wrong. Maybe it's wrong now."

"No, I stepped on it five times to make sure, and every single answer was you."

"I am _not_ dating you again because of that danged machine, Nya," Jay turned around, a furious fire burning in his vivid blue eyes. "And if Michael weren't here, I'd be throwing around even worse words because of what happened with that _thing_."

"Is Michael . . . your son?" Nya asked hesitantly.

"No, he's my apprentice, and Michael―"

"Can I go home now?" Michael asked hopefully.

"Yes, you may. I was about to let you leave anyhow."

Michael gratefully bounded out the door, glad to be finally free from that awkward situation.

 **OoOoOoO**

Once his apprentice had left, Jay stood up, walked past Nya, and shut and bolted the door. Then he pulled the blinds down and made sure they were securely closed. The only light in the room came from the six lanterns hanging around the shop.

He glared savagely at Nya. "I'm never going back, Nya," he snapped. " _Especially_ not for _you_. I was wrong to fall for you: you affections are too fickle. I'd bet if Michael Jackson came out as your 'Perfect Match' you'd run after him like you ran after Cole . . . and now me."

Nya chewed her lip, obviously struggling to think of a reply. "What happened to Cole, anyway?" Jay shot at her. "You probably ditched him real fast when you found out that matchup was a dud."

"Actually Jay―James, he didn't want anything to do with me after you left," Nya answered. "He said―he said the same thing you said: if I chose a machine's choice about who I should be with instead of following what I knew was right, I wasn't anyone worth pursuing a relationship with.


	3. Outcast of Love: Nya's Choice

**Hey, guys! I FINALLY get to respond to y'all's kind reviews - thank you so much for your support!**

 **MasterofCupcakes: Thanks! I feel bad for Jay, too - poor guy's been through a lot. Even though I do support Jaya, there are times when I want to blast out my Jay fan-rage at Nya for the times she was a jerk to him.**

 **Loki God of Evil: Thank you! I'm not really good at poetry, so that means a lot! :D**

 **The Mayor of Ninjago City: I'll hold onto it, don't worry. :) And I'm happy to report that the fires have been taken care of! Praise God! :D Thank you for praying for me and Northern California, MNC and MoC!**

 **Sugar Pixal (review response for Chapters 1 and 2): I'm not entirely buying it that Cole's canon last name is "Bucket": i know that blooper reel said that that's his last name, but if I relied on that, then Lloyd's last name would be Green and Zane's last name would be Roberts. I'm cool with Kai and Nya being "Smith" and it's official canon that Jay's adopted last name is "Walker", but I'm not too sure about the others XP I did not see that Tweet (I'm not actually on Twitter . . . or any social media, actually XP) But that's really cute! :D**

 **So, here's the scoop: I'll tentatively hold on to these plots, but they won't be too high on my priority list, okay? Do we have a truce? XD**

 **And before I have to skee-daddle, here are the stats on this plot bunny:**

 **Title: Outcast of Love: Nya's Choice**

 **Summary: a dramatic romance loosely inspired by Brian Jacques's works**

 **When I Last Worked on It: March 13th, 2016**

 **Notes: takes place shortly after Possession, first two chapters fully written**

 **Random Fact: . . . I don't have one. XP**

* * *

 **Outcast of Love: Nya's Choice**

Something was stirring in Kryptarium Prison. Known as "the Bastille of Ninjago", its cells were reserved for only the worst criminals and convicts in the land.

A cell door slowly creaked open, hinges rusty from disuse. A prison guard lay unconscious on the floor, spear knocked out of his hand. His cheek was heavily bruised, and both eyes were blacked. Attacked, but attacker unknown.

A figure, cloaked in shadow and veiled in darkness, stepped lightly over the fallen guard. He rubbed his calloused wrists, chafed by the chains binding him to his cell wall. He had once been youthful, merry, and light-hearted. But that was before she disappeared.

Before he was arrested, he had no idea where she might have gone. But news travels fast in Ninjago, even as far north as Kryptarium Prison. The news made him stronger, strong enough to break his bonds and escape even the Bastille of Ninjago.

Now with a new power surging through his veins, he unsheathed his weapon. He had forged it from his old manacles, once strong enough to hold back one of the most dangerous convicts in Ninjago.

The sword glinted in the thin stream of moonlight flowing through the window. Its keen blade was midnight black, so clear that you could see your reflection mirrored in its surface.

The young man stared at his reflection in the blade. _This is who I am now,_ he thought, eyes burning with hatred. _A convict. Nothing more._ But in the deepest realm of his heart, he knew better. He was determined to find her, the girl who was torn from him.

"I am coming for you, Nya Smith," he vowed. "So long as my name is Darkeye Coldheart, I will find you."

* * *

 **Chapter One: A Surprise**

"-and then he said, 'That was no beehive, that was my aunt!'"

Jay and Nya burst out laughing at Jay's joke. "How do you come up with this stuff?" Nya gasped, wiping her eyes.

"I'm gifted that way," Jay said, trying hard not to fall off the bench as he shook with laughter. "Y'know, it just pops up in my head, and I see what I can do with it. Kinda like inventing."

"It's that easy?" Nya didn't believe it.

"Nope. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. It all depends on your way of thinking." Jay tapped his head.

"Speaking of inventing, how's your special project coming along?"

Jay's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! It's almost done! It should take me about a few more days, but it's going as smooth as a frog on ice skates."

"Really? No kinks?"

"So far, nope."

"Nya! Jay!" Kai came running out of the dojo, still dressed in his bathrobe and pajamas.

"Seriously, Kai?" Jay stared at his friend in disbelief. "You slept in _again_?"

"I stayed up late last night. Anyway, I didn't come to get reprimanded."

"Then why did you come?" Nya asked.

"We got a video call from Kryptarium Prison, and it sounds urgent!" Kai explained.

Jay's eyes widened. "Kryptarium Prison? As in 'the Bastille of Ninjago'? _That_ prison?"

"No, Master Chen's Noodle House," Kai said sarcastically. "Of course _that_ prison! Everyone else is at the computer room!"

Jay, Kai, and Nya dashed like thunder for the computer room's conference monitor. Cole, Zane, Lloyd, Sensei Wu, and Misako had already set up the video call with Deputy Warden Jedidiah Pyle, the assistant head of security at Kryptarium Prison.

"Where were you two?" Cole demanded. "Oh, never mind, we've got bigger things to deal with."

"Warden, what's the alert?" Lloyd asked.

Pyle's face was waterfalling with sweat. "We've had a prisoner escape, and he's armed and extremely dangerous!"

"How can he be armed?" Zane asked, frowning. "Don't you make sure that all inmates are kept away from all weaponry?"

"A guard claimed that the chains that were holding this prisoner had disappeared, along with the inmate. When I went to check the cell, the guard's story was true: the chains were gone, neatly pulled out of the wall."

"How could he forge a weapon out of the chains without a fire?" Kai asked. Before he became a ninja, he and his sister Nya ran their late father's blacksmith shop. Even though he wasn't a good blacksmith, Kai knew everything about the trade. "You can't have fire in a stone prison without tinder or hot coals without heat, unless you can catch fire, like me." He demonstrated by letting his hands catch fire, then shaking the fire out.

"I don't know how, but this inmate managed," Warden Pyle said. "He was always rather mysterious, even to me. We had a nagging suspicion he might possess unknown power, but we dismissed that idea. Now I regret that dismissal."

"Who _is_ this guy, anyway?" Jay asked impatiently.

"He's been arrested for theft of the Golden Armor, theft of the Realm Crystal, kidnapping Cyrus Borg, and other severe crimes I can't recall now," Pyle said. "He calls himself Darkeye Coldheart. Sounds like something out of a Brian Jacques book."

"Brian who?" Kai was confused.

"Brian Jacques is a British-born author of Liverpool, England, famous for his 'Redwall' series, chronicling the events and battles of the fictional Redwall Abbey," Zane explained.

"Do you two want to continue your book discussion, or should we go back to the more pressing matter?" Lloyd asked sarcastically. He turned back to Warden Pyle. "I remember when we arrested Coldheart for the theft of the Golden Armor and the Realm Crystal. He's the one who escaped?"

Pyle nodded. "Several guards tried to capture him, but Coldheart made short work of them. A survivor told me he had a sword with a midnight-black blade, and it wasn't because of the lighting. It was made of a pitch-black metal, unlike anything we've ever seen."

"Do you know where he's headed?" Sensei Wu asked.

"Another warden who managed to hide when Coldheart attacked a squad of guards overheard him say something about a mountain monastery," Pyle said.

"That's where we used to live before the Hypnobrai burned it down!" Nya exclaimed.

"Why would Coldheart want to go to the ruins of a monastery?" Misako wondered aloud.

Pyle shrugged. "The guard said that Coldheart was muttering something like 'finding her'. I don't know who the 'her' he referred to is."

"Well, whatever he's up to, it doesn't sound good," Jay said. "We'll track him down like a pack of hungry bloodhounds on hunting day and bring him back to the Bastille, where he belongs."

"Nice metaphor," Cole commented.

"Thanks."

"We'll find him, Warden," Lloyd promised, "and bring him back for the justice he deserves."

"Thank you so much, Ninja," Pyle said gratefully. "May the First Spinjitzu Master bless you and your endeavor." Then the video call shut off.

"Zane, do you have the profile on Darkeye Coldheart?" Sensei Wu asked.

"Pixal, can you bring up all stored data on Darkeye Coldheart?" Zane asked.

From inside his head, Pixal replied, " **Of course.** " After a few seconds, a image was projected from Zane's eye, of a full-body mug shot of Darkeye Coldheart. He was a tall young man, probably around Cole's age, with windswept black hair, a ragged patch over his left eye and dressed in a full-body suit of obsidian armor, a red Roman-esque cape secured about his shoulders.

"Darkeye Coldheart has extremely few amounts of known information," Zane informed his teammates. "His past is unknown, but a few people knew the reason he turned into one of Ninjago's greatest criminals. Unfortunately, I myself do not."

"Do you know who might know the reason?" Kai asked.

Zane gave it some thought, as Pixal ran through all her and Zane's combined memory banks. "Strangely enough, a few people from your home village might, Kai," he replied.

Kai and Nya were confused. "I don't remember anyone who matched Darkeye's description living in our village," Nya said.

"He might have changed since that time, so if you saw a picture of his past self, you might recognize him," Cole explained.

They all turned to Zane. "I may be upgraded," Zane said, slightly irritated, "but I'm not an all-out storehouse of information. I don't have something that specific in my memory banks. Neither does Pixal."

"Agreed," Pixal said.

"Then we should go to our first source to finding out what Coldheart might be up to," Lloyd said. "I think it's time you go home, Kai."

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Where is She?**

"How can this be?" Darkeye fumed. He kicked a scrap of rubble from the ruins of the old monastery. "She was supposed to be here!"

"Are you looking for someone, mister?" A little boy, no more than eight years old, was standing behind him, holding a soccer ball.

"Beat it, kid, I don't have time for jokes." Darkeye picked up a piece of charred wood, and crushed it between his fingers. "Where could she be?" he muttered.

"No one's lived there for years, mister!" The boy was still there, his soccer ball rolled up against a tree.

"How do you know so much?" Darkeye asked sardonically.

"I live in a village nearby," the boy pointed back down the mountain. "That old monastery was burned down by Serpentine, my father told me. The people who lived there moved somewhere else."

Darkeye's eyes lit up. "Do you know where they moved to?" he asked eagerly.

The boy shrugged. "Nope. But my father knows."

"Can you take me to him?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at Darkeye. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," he said warily.

"You were just now," Darkeye said, trying to keep exasperation out of his voice.

"Yes, but you were looking for someone that wasn't there," the boy pointed out. "It was pretty stupid, so I thought I'd help you out."

"You're quite intelligent for a boy as young as yourself." Darkeye decided to use the flatter technique.

"I'm nine," the boy said flatly. "And I'm still not supposed to talk to you." He turned to go back down the mountain.

Darkeye bit back his tongue in frustration. Here was the key to finding her, and he wouldn't take him to his father! "Come on, kid," he said desperately, "it's really important!"

"Still, I can't talk to you!" The boy called back, scooping up his soccer ball. "Bye!"

Darkeye stamped his foot. "Argh!"

"If you want to know, go down to the village and ask yourself!" The boy ran down the mountain.

Darkeye slapped himself in the forehead. That kid _was_ smarter than he thought. But he couldn't go into a village looking the way he did. He'd have to disguise himself, because, besides his obscure name, people would definitely recognize him as the thief who almost managed to get away with the Golden Armor and the Realm Crystal.

 **OoOoOoO**

A cloaked stranger entered Jamanakai Village. The residents eyed him warily, but continued on with their daily chores and work. The children playing in the streets dove out of the way as he headed toward the local tavern.

 **OoOoOoO**

The door to the tavern swung open, and Darkeye stepped inside. Nobody paid him much attention, they got a lot of strange visitors in there. Even though Darkeye was fully aware that he blended into the surroundings like a chameleon, he didn't dare risk taking his hood off.

He took a seat at the bar, but refused the barman's offer of a drink. Instead, he asked, keeping his voice low, "Do you know anything about the old monastery up the mountain?"

The barman shrugged. "Not much. All I know is that one day, people were there, the next, they were gone. Odd folk, too. Though we do owe them a great debt, as do the rest of Ninjago. Mighty fine heroes, they are."

Darkeye muttered an oath under his breath. _Those Ninja had lived at the monastery! And_ _ **she**_ _was living with them! No doubt it was because of her brother. If I was there . . ._

"Not sure where they went after that," the barman was saying, absently scratching his stubbly chin. "I heard a rumor that now their headquarters are on some flying ship called the _Destiny's Bounty_ , or something like that . . ."

Darkeye's face lit up. "Do you know where it is?" he asked, restraining his eagerness.

"No idea," the barman said. "It could be anywhere. But, if you're so desperate, I've got a relative in Ninjago City who has some close connections with the Ninja who'd probably be more than happy to help you out." Then, the barman gave him a quizzical look. "Why are you so curious about where they live, anyway?"

"I've got some information they'd probably like to know," Darkeye lied quickly. "Where's this relative of yours live?"

"He lives in Ninjago City, but I'll give him a call-"

"No, no, just give me his address," Darkeye said hastily. A phone call would completely blow his cover, especially if the Ninja knew he had escaped.

"All right," the barman said, shrugging again. _Strange fella_ , he thought as he scribbled down his cousin's address on a piece of weathered paper. "Here y'are. You need transportation?"

"No, I have my own methods," Darkeye replied, trying hard to contain his excitement as he tucked the paper under his cloak. "You will be well rewarded."

With a whirl of his cloak, he turned around and strode out of the bar, leaving a very confused barman scratching his head.


	4. The Adventures of the Ninja Kittehz!

**Hey guys! Gosh, I'm really surprised by how much y'all like these old ideas and plots of mine! But I'm glad you're enjoying them! :D**

 **Lia: yeah, I might continue it, but I'm still thinking about it *shrugs* Guess we'll have to wait and see :)**

 **MoC: I'm not sure where I picked up the term "plot bunny": probably from the LotR writers I read XP But it's a cute one :3**

 **Sugar Pixal: yeah, makes sense - depends on when that blooper reel was released, though.**

 **And to everyone: THANK YOU SO MUCH! You guys are so sweet! :D I'm glad you like my plot bunnies! Aw, they're bouncing off the walls, the little furballs. :3**

* * *

 **Speaking of furballs, that has to do with this next story: I'm intending to do something with this in the future, which I hope you'll like. So, without further ado, here it is!**

 **Title: The Adventures of the Ninja Kittehz!**

 **Summary: a weird adaptation of Ninjago where the Ninja are all domestic cats . . . because I'm a crazy cat girl :3**

 **When I Last Worked On It: August 16th, 2017**

 **Notes: bits and pieces of it have been written, and while the cats can understand each other - hence the scenes where they talk to each other, Sensei Wu cannot understand them.**

 **Random Fact: I have a HUGE encyclopedia about cats. No kidding. Like I said, crazy cat girl.**

 **Oh, and I recommend checking out this YouTube channel: Cole and Marmalade \- the cat named Cole is . . . well, what Cole as a cat looks like in my story. And to get a better idea of what the other Ninja look like, just look up the cat breeds I name in the story. They're sooooo CUTE! :3**

* * *

 **The Adventures of the Ninja Kittehz!**

 **Chapter 1: Unexpected (but Welcome) Company**

Once upon a time there was an old martial arts master named Sensei Wu. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about Sensei Wu, except that he had an extraordinarily long white beard, and lived at the top of a mountain in a beautiful but isolated monastery.

Now, because of his reclusive way of life, he didn't get very many visitors. Apart from the weekly visits from the mailman and occasional drop-ins from his older brother Garmadon and his wife and son, Sensei Wu was quite alone up there in the mountain monastery.

He always politely declined his brother's invitation to come live with him and his family in Ninjago City, saying he preferred the peace and quiet of his current location. But he had to admit, he was rather lonely all by himself, without the cries and cheers of his young pupils, now graduated and moved on to different parts of Ninjago.

He would gladly enjoy some company, but of what kind? He loved his brother and his family, but moving to their townhouse in the city would be a bit too drastic of a change. Apart from that, he had no other available options to interact with other people, or any other creature in particular. . .

 **OoOoOoO**

One crisp autumn afternoon, while Sensei Wu was once more pondering his dilemma from the comfort of his inner courtyard porch, he heard loud barking and a shrill yowl from outside the monastery walls. "What on earth─"

Before he could get to his feet and investigate the commotion, a ragged black ball of _something_ came hurtling over the wall, spitting and yowling like it was Armageddon. It ran right up to Sensei Wu and ducked behind his legs, and the sound it was making was now clear to the sensei: it was a cat. Probably in his "teens", judging by his size, but most likely no more than a year old.

"Always getting into fights, aren't you?" the sensei sighed. "If I've told you once, I've told you a dozen times: stay away from those dogs!" He was quite familiar with this particular cat: a black long-hair with bright green eyes and a stocky build. The stocky part had been Wu's fault: he often fed the cat with leftover scraps of food from his meals.

 **OoOoOoO**

"Well, you certainly don't think I'm going to let you wander around and let yourself get killed now, do you?"

The black cat tilted his head weakly at Wu in a begrudging sort of nod. Opening his mouth, revealing small white fangs, he croaked a slightly raspy _mrr._

* * *

"You may have a new friend come to live with us, Cole," Wu remarked, laying the muddy orange mass of fur out on a table. "He's about your age, I think."

Cole jumped up on the table and curiously approached the newcomer. The cat had unusual folded ears, and his dominant color was a pretty shade of bright tabby orange, with a white stripe running down his nose; a white chest, paws, hind feet, and tail tip; and little darker orange stripes here and there down his back.

The black cat sniffed the tabby. Even though he was unconscious, Cole guessed he wasn't much of a threat. A milk-drinker, most likely. Sensei Wu was right in estimating the cat was about his age, for his build suggested he wasn't quite at full size yet. _Never seen a tabby Scottish Fold before,_ he thought, tentatively touching the cat's face with his paw. _Well, there's a first time for everything._

* * *

"Where am I?" stammered the frightened cat, trying to stand up but falling back onto the cushion with a mewl of pain, his bandaged bad paw throbbing relentlessly. "What happened to me? I can't move!"

"Take it easy, kit," Cole said, trotting over and sitting down next to the tabby's head. "You'll be fine. You cut your paw pretty bad on those rocks outside, but you should be able to limp around in a few days, though I reckon you won't be walking without that bandage until a few weeks from now."

If it were possible, the Scottish Fold's ears seemed to be pressed even flatter against his round head. "Who are you?" he squeaked, inching away from Cole as fast as his wounded state would permit him. He tried to look menacing by weakly baring his fangs and fluffing out his tail, but Cole only chuckled as he caught the tabby by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back into a comfortable position on the cushion.

"Relax, kit, I'm not gonna hurt you," he assured him. "What's your name?"

"J-j-jay," the tabby stammered, trying to sit up, but once again falling on his side. "Who are you?"

"I'm Cole," the black cat introduced himself. "No offense, but Jay's a bit of a weird name for a cat. I mean, it's a type of bird. We're supposed to eat birds."

"My parents named me after my first solo-caught prey," Jay explained, still slightly nervous as he glanced up at Cole. "Not really sure why, but―hey, what are you doing?"

Cole had bent his head down and was calmly licking the top of Jay's head with his rough tongue. "Thenthei Wu mithed a thpot," he said between licks, cleaning more dirt out of the Scottish Fold's fur.

"I can clean myself!" Jay protested, but the black cat ignored him as he licked out the last of the dirt from between Jay's flat ears. Giving up, the tabby Fold mumbled, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Cole withdrew his tongue and sat down Sphinx-style beside the other cat, tucking his paws under his chest. "So. . . what breed are you exactly? I've never seen a cat with that bright of a coat, especially a Fold."

"My dad's a sand cat, my mom's an orange tabby Scottish Fold," Jay said, shifting his injured leg as he tried to lie down more comfortably on his side.

"What's a sand cat?"

"Kinda small, wild cat, I guess, lives in the desert?" Jay offered. "I'm from the Sea of Sand, which is pretty much sand cat territory, so when a domesticated Fold and a tame sand cat fall in love, ya get me. What breed are you?"

"Ah, just your average black American Longhair," Cole shrugged, but he emitted a somewhat discontented _mrr_.

"Aw, don't look so grumpy about it, you look like a Persian on a bad fur day!" Jay's happy _nya_ couldn't help but make Cole smile back. Even though he was a little shy at first, Jay seemed to be a pretty okay cat. A milk-drinker, but okay.

* * *

Sensei Wu dove into the pond and in a swift second, had the cat in his arms and above water. The soaked feline was coughing up water, but he was alive.

"Who would dare drown such a handsome cat?" the old man wondered aloud, bundling the shivering cat into a blanket. The Norwegian Forest cat was indeed beautiful, with a fluffy gray coat, a snowy white chest and paws, and soft blue-gray eyes in a furry face marked with white. His delicate whiskers were still trembling as Wu gently dried him off, murmuring soft words of comfort to soothe the frightened cat's mewing.

* * *

Cole, Jay, and Zane watched the Somali and Abyssinian curiously. The larger Abyssinian hovered protectively over his sister, fangs bared in a slight hiss directed at anyone who got too close. "Hey, buddy, ya know if you keep doing that, your sister's not gonna get any better, right?" Cole called.

"Don't _buddy_ me," the Abyssinian male snapped, fiery golden eyes narrowing on the black cat. "And don't tell me how to care for my sister, got it?"

"Whoa, whoa, dude, you need a serious chill pill," Jay piped up, trying to keep his eyes off the unconscious Somali, whom he was finding very attractive. "Sensei Wu's not gonna hurt you; he helped the three of us!" He held out his still-bandaged paw.

The Abyssinian hissed and flattened his ears, curling his lip back to more clearly expose his fangs. "I'm not letting that _human_ touch my sister!" he snarled.

"Do you think you are physically capable of tending a wound like that?" Zane asked, gesturing with a white paw to the Somali's gashed side. "Logically speaking, it would make the most sense to allow Sensei to treat your sister, then you both can be on your way."

"We―don't have anywhere to go," the cat faltered, deflating like an old balloon. His ears drooped, his whiskers went limp, and the fire flickered, then died in his gold eyes. "Our parents disappeared when we were three months old. We didn't wanna stick around where we were, so we've been wandering ever since. After three months, we passed that old burial ground down the mountainside, and we were attacked by skeleton dogs. I took care of the one that cut Nya, then they ran off. She lost a lot of blood by the time I was able to drag her up here."

"Sensei Wu can help her, and you, if you give him a chance," Cole assured the Abyssinian, padding up to the depressed-looking cat, who didn't try to scare him off. "I fended for myself ever since I was about that age, except when Sensei gave me table scraps whenever I couldn't catch prey for several days. Then he adopted me after I almost killed myself in a skeleton dog fight."

"I was trying to find a new home when I thought I was old enough to leave my parents, and I cut my paw really bad on the rocks a little ways down the mountain," Jay added. "I probably wouldn't be here if Sensei hadn't picked me up. I'll be able to walk without this bandage in a week!" He mewed happily.

"When my previous human passed away, I stayed in a village where a man tried to drown me in a pond, but Sensei Wu pulled me out just in time," said Zane.

 **OoOoOoO**

"Soooo . . . how about introductions?" Jay _mrr_ ed. "I'm Jay, and I'm a Scottish Fold sand cat mix."

"I'm Cole, American Longhair," Cole added.

"My name is Zane; I am a Norwegian Forest cat," said Zane.

"Kai, and I'm an Abyssinian," the cat revealed. "And my sister Nya's a Somali."

"Okay, so I've always wanted to ask this question," Jay's flat ears seemed to prick up a little. "Is there a major difference between a Somali and an Abyssinian?"

"No, not really," Kai shrugged. "A Somali is basically a long-haired Abyssinian. Our dad was an Abyss, like me, and our mom was a Somali."

"So you're not half-siblings?" Cole asked.

"Nope, same litter." Kai bent his head down to gently lick his sister's face. "Is she gonna be all right?"

As if in reply to his question, Nya _mrr_ ed sleepily. "K-K-Kai?"

Jay emitted a little squeak as the female Somali struggled to sit up, her brother helping her by gently tugging her upright by the scruff of her neck. "Holy mother of mice," he murmured. "She's _beautiful_. . ."

By cat or human standards, Nya was a beautiful feline, with thick, fluffy, fiery gold fur; delicate paws; and lovely golden eyes, like her brother.

Jay wanted to say something to her, but just as he tried to open his mouth, he started coughing. Why, oh why did he have to get a hairball right now? He was able to begin his sentence with a _mreow_ directed at Nya, but his coughing prevented him from continuing.

"He cannot talk right now," Zane said helpfully, "but he would like to know if you like blue."

Jay nodded eagerly, looking hopefully at the Somali. Nya gave him a shy smile. "It's my favorite color," she said. Kai raised his eyebrow, a little warily, at Jay.

" _Yes_ ," Jay managed to cheer weakly, ignoring Kai's look. He coughed again. "Uh . . . could you excuse me a sec?"

With that, he half walked, half hopped off, trying to find a suitable place to cough up his hairball without getting in trouble with Sensei.

 _He's cute,_ Nya thought, with the trace of a feline blush. _I think it's the ears, although the way he's hopping like that helps too._

* * *

Jay rolled over on his back, waving his paws and twitching his whiskers in such an adorable way that Sensei Wu couldn't help chuckling. "Oh, Jay, you pesky kitty, why do you have to be so cute?"

Jay just _mrr_ ed, one of his sweet, rolling _mrrs_ , that started out low and ended high. Kai couldn't help rolling his eyes as Wu affectionately scratched him behind his folded ears. "If he didn't have those folded ears and those huge eyes, he wouldn't be so cute," he muttered.

"Tell that to Zane," Cole smirked, gesturing with his head towards the Norwegian Forest Cat, who was daintily licking his paw. Rubbing his paw behind one ear, Zane yawned, then hopped gracefully up onto the bed next to Jay and curled himself up into a ball, his fluffy tail almost completely hiding his pretty face, so his half-closed blue eyes peeked out over his tail.

"Point taken," Kai grunted, glaring a little at the American Longhair. "I'm going to sleep." Scrambling up on the bed, the Abyssinian stretched, yawned, settled himself comfortably on the bed, and closed his eyes.


	5. Phantago: Parallels Collide

**Heh, some of you may remember this old diamond in the rough. This is the remains of the first story I published on FanFiction: Phantago: Parallels Collide.**

 **I've broadened my horizons a lot since I put out this story. For example, I've put up three Lord of the Rings fics, and have also just put up a Pirates of the Caribbean fic. Yep, I'm extending outside of Ninjago. And I'm actually quite happy about it.**

* * *

 **Phantago: Parallels Collide**

 **Prologue: Lake Mira**

"Can someone please remind me," Jay panted, "why we're climbing this ridiculously steep mountain in the middle of the night?"

Cole's face was dripping with sweat. He had scaled the highest mountain of Ninjago without any tools without hardly breaking a sweat, but the Lakora Mountains were definitely more of a challenge. "To complete a mission for Sensei, remember?" he gasped.

"Oh, _ri-i-ight,_ " Jay said sarcastically. "We're suppose to go to this lake that looks exactly like a mirror when the moon is at its fullest, then magically go to this 17th parallel realm called Phantago. Totally believable."

"How much farther to Lake Mira?" Lloyd panted.

"Approximately 10 to 15 miles," Zane replied. "And that's only if we're lucky enough not to run into any expected problems."

"And if we're not so lucky?" Kai asked.

"I'd give it thirty miles," Pixal replied.

"Nice," Nya muttered.

"Keep it down, guys," Cole warned. "This mountainside is extremely unstable. Any sudden movements or abrupt tone changes can start a rockslide faster than Speedy Gonzales with hotfoot."

The ninja continued climbing in silence. Finally, Cole made it to the top of Mt. Mira, the tallest mountain in the Lakova mountain-range. The others followed close behind. Lake Mira lay spread out below them, perfectly rounded in the valley formed by the Lakova Mountains. "It is aptly named," Zane murmured. "In the old language, 'mira' meant 'mirror'."

Lake Mira definitely fit its name. It reflected the full moon at the mountains surrounding it like a polished mirror. Not a single ripple crossed its glassy surface.

"Now what?" Skylor whispered.

"When the moon reaches the central point in Lake Mira's reflection, we're supposed to jump off this ledge and yell, 'To Phantago!" Lloyd said. "I think."

"And if we're not, we'd pretty much have gone on a suicide mission," Jay muttered. He shivered.

"Cold getting to you?" Cole teased.

"It's not that." Jay shuddered again. "I don't like this. I'm getting a weird sense of . . . something otherworldly. Something beyond our control. Something we shouldn't mess with."

"I know what you mean." Lloyd looked disquieted as a cold wind breezed past. "I got the same feeling when I was in the Cursed Realm."

"Quiet," Cole said suddenly.

"What's up with you and being quiet all of a sudden?" Jay demanded.

"Really, put a lid on it." Cole pointed to the moon. It was passing slowly across the inky-black sky.

"It's almost at the central point," Skylor realized.

"Grab a hand, quick," Cole instructed.

Jay instinctively caught Nya's hand, Kai gingerly took Skylor's, and Zane's clasped firmly onto Pixal's. The eight Ninja formed a single chain along the mountain-ridge.

The moon continued to inch along its course across the sky. "Wait for it," Cole muttered, hands dripping with sweat. "Almost there."

It happened so fast the Ninja didn't have time to blink. The moon touched the reflection's central point. The Ninja yelled, " **To Phantago!** ", and they jumped off the ridge. As they hurtled through the air, Lake Mira's waters suddenly churned into a foam-crested vortex of an unfamiliar vivid purple glow. "Brace yourselves!" Lloyd yelled over the roaring wind. The Ninja fell into the swirling vortex, and for a few minutes, all they could see was **black. . .**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The First Encounter**

Jay was the first to come to. He blinked groggily, and glanced around him. His teammates were passed out around him, but some were scattered in different directions. "What happened?" he groaned. His head was spinning like a carousel gone haywire, and his heart was beating in his chest like a full percussion orchestra. He had to squint to keep the bright-was it noonday?-sun out of his eyes.

Cole was the second to come to, rubbing sand out of his eyes as he sat up. "Ow, my head," he muttered, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

"Are you okay?" Jay asked.

"Apart from this weird headache, yeah. You?"

"Ditto on the headache. Where's Kai?"

Cole had to turn his head slowly to keep his headache from worsening. "He wasn't as lucky as us," he said, half-smiling. "He's over there, see?"

Kai had landed head-first in the sand, legs flailing in the air as he tried to free himself. Cole and Jay heard muffled yelling from his direction. "Should we go give him a hand?" Cole asked.

"Naw, he could use some chill time."

Nya came to, and Jay helped her to her feet. "Where's Kai?" she asked.

"Over there." Cole pointed to her brother's kicking legs sticking up out of the sand.

"Uh, guys?" Lloyd's voice called a short distance away. "A little help?" He was buried to his waist in sand, and he was unsuccessfully trying to haul himself out.

"I'll try to find the others," Nya said. "You guys go help Lloyd and Kai."

As Jay and Cole went to pull out Lloyd, Nya went looking went Zane, Pixal, and Skylor. Skylor wasn't too hard to find, as she had landed head-first into a bush, and made a loud rustling noise as she struggled to shake herself out.

After pulling Skylor out of the bush, Pixal and Zane were a little harder to find. Both Nindroids had landed in an acacia tree, Zane hung over a branch like washing on a clothesline and Pixal higher up in the tree.

"I felt like I was going to throw up," Zane croaked as Nya and Skylor helped him down. "The wind was completely knocked out of me."

"You don't need oxygen," Nya pointed out. "And I've never heard of Nindroids needing to throw up."

"Oh, right. But still, it wasn't a good feeling."

Once Zane and Pixal were out of the tree, the foursome went back to the other ninja, where Cole, Jay, and Lloyd were trying to yank Kai out of the sand. "How come the three of you can't pull him out?" Skylor asked, stifling a smile.

"He's stuck deeper than we thought, sis," Lloyd answered, tugging at Kai's feet.

"Not that deep," Jay, whose arms were wrapped around Lloyd's waist, corrected him. "I can feel him moving a little."

"Hold on tight!" Cole yelled. He gave one final heave, and Kai popped out of the sand, sending all four warriors sprawled backwards in the sand.

"I was suffocating down there," Kai complained, shaking sand out of his spiky hair.

"It wasn't our fault you were stuck so deep!" Jay protested.

"Just drop it, you two," Cole said. "We have bigger problems to deal with, like, where are we?"

Zane and Pixal scanned the landscape as far as they could. "I am unfamiliar with this territory," Pixal said, frowning. "My database says we are in the center of Lake Mira, but the lake isn't to be seen, nor are we in an environment with a climate suitable for a lake to exist."

"The only logical explanation is that we are in the realm Sensei sent us to seek aid from," Zane concluded. "We are in Phantago."

"Right you are!"

 **~*Phantago*~**

The Ninja whirled around. A young man dressed in black stood behind them. Despite the hot sun beating down, he wore a heavy hooded cloak, and kept the hood pulled up over his head. His voice sounded strangely familiar, though the Ninja couldn't place how. His dark eyes sparkled with mischief under the shadow of his hood, and his smile was also strangely familiar.

"My name's Olorin," he introduced himself. "I've never seen you eight before. Are you newcomers to Phantago?"

"You could say that," Lloyd replied.

"Why are the likes of you hanging around a place like Mira Desert?" Olorin asked.

"We're just a little lost, that's all," Jay replied warily.

"Have a specific destination?" Olorin's eyes gleamed. "I know my way around Phantago like the back of my hand."

Cole quietly checked the slip of paper Sensei Wu had given him before they left. "We're looking for the House of Eight Twisters," he said.

"I know exactly where that is!" Olorin exclaimed. "But you're _way_ off course. I can take you right to it, if you'd like."

"Should we trust him?" Kai whispered to Lloyd.

"It's the only thing we _can_ do," Lloyd whispered back. He smiled at Olorin. "We'd appreciate any help you can give us," he said to Olorin.

"Then follow me." Olorin turned on his heel and began walking at a leisurely pace across the desert.

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Zane muttered as the Ninja followed Olorin.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Olorin**

Olorin proved to be . . . _interesting_ company for the ninja team. He never took his hood off, which aroused some worry among the Ninja. Along the way, Olorin pointed out Phantago landmarks. "If you'd look over there, you'll see Lakora Canyon, the most treacherous canyon in Phantago. You do _not_ want you to get lost down there." He lowered his voice confidentially. "Some say there's a hidden labyrinth somewhere in the canyon. Many have tried to find it, but none have returned."

"Well, that's reassuring," Jay muttered.

Olorin didn't seem to hear him. "Watch your step," he warned. "This slope is pretty unstable. One wrong move, and you could fall into the canyon."

"Why is the canyon called by the old word for lake?" Zane asked.

Olorin shrugged. "Don't ask me. It's always been like that so far as I know. But some of the ancients say that the canyon and Mira Desert used to be a forest-range with a river and lake. But then a drought dried the whole area up, leaving only the canyon and the desert." He snorted. "Like I'd ever believe one of _them_."

"One of whom?" Cole asked suspiciously. He was definitely distrustful of Olorin.

"One of the ancients," Olorin replied. "They pretty much developed the basic codes for those pesky rebels stirring up trouble for Empress Undara."

"What rebels?" Nya asked.

Olorin stared at her as if she was crazy. "You don't know? Well, the Scaletine to start off with. Those irritating snakes are always helping the rebels' cause, especially that one tribe, what was it called? The Boraconstrictai? They're the ones who started the rebellion in the first place. No, wait, that was the Bonedin Army."

"Scaletine? Bonedin?" Skylor whispered, concerned. "That sounds a lot like Serpentine and Skulkins."

"By now most have come to their senses and joined the service of the empress," Olorin continued airily. "But there are still a few we need to take care of."

"We?" Zane asked suspiciously.

"I mean 'they'," Olorin corrected himself. "A small team of warriors determined to fight for the empress' cause. I don't know much about them, or where they are now."

"Let's hope they're nowhere near us," Jay muttered.

"Yeah, let's hope." Nya squeezed Jay's hand nervously.

"You never know with guys like them," Olorin shrugged. "They could be standing at your elbow and you'd never notice."

 _That_ unsettled the Ninja even more than they were already. Olorin's casual way of addressing the rebellion and this mysterious band of warriors added to their ever-growing distrust of him.

They traversed in silence for a long way. They passed across Lakora Canyon, through the Forest of Few Heights, over the River Kerona, and past the Titan Monument.

"These landmarks correspond to coordinates in Ninjago, but in reverse," Pixal noted. "The Canyon is where the Lakora Mountains should be, the Forest of Few Heights is Phantago's Grasslands of Few Heights, the Old Kerona Pits is Ninjago's River Kerona, and the Titan Monument is Phantago's Circle of Titans."

"This really is a parallel realm," Kai breathed. "Identical, but opposite."

"We'd better stay on our guard," Lloyd warned. "I don't trust this Olorin guy. He's acting pretty mysterious."

Jay rolled his eyes. "Join the club."

They continued on, Olorin occasionally pointing out Phantagonian monuments and landmarks.

 **~*Phantago*~**

"Are we almost there?" Kai panted.

"Almost," Olorin replied coolly. The group was climbing down a long and steep flight of stairs into a cavern hidden in the shadow of a rocky cliff-face.

"Could you tell us a little more about this rebellion going on?" Lloyd asked "innocently."

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Olorin said. "Since the beginning of time, there's always been a conflict between the light and the dark, the dark being the rebels, and the light being the Empress Undara.

"Anyway, the Empress first defeated the rebels with her indestructible Soil Samurai, which caused Phantago to split into two islands. The rebels were banished to the Dark Island, but they've been able to sneak back to Phantago, apparently with the help of a spirit, the First Spinjitzu Master, they claim.

"The rebels were first helped by the Scaletine after they were accidentally released from their prisons by a little boy, the son of the rebel leader, Lord Tarmadon. Then the leader of the Boraconstrictai, Kythor, released the Vast Consumer, a ginormous snake with an insatiable appetite, against the empress' forces. Kythor didn't reckon that it would eat her first." Olorin snickered.

"As you can guess, the Consumer was defeated, and the Scaletine retreated. The rebels were quiet for a while, until they and the Scaletine unlocked a secret crypt of Soil Samurai buried under Phantago City. The Scaletine were locked up in the crypt, too slow to escape the lockdown after the Soil Samurai were released.

"The rebels used these rogue Soil Samurai to attack Phantago City. The warrior team I mentioned earlier forced them to flee to the Dark Island, but they had to follow, to keep an eye on them. The rebels managed to build a super-weapon with the aid of the spirit of the First Spinjitzu Master, and under the guidance of Lord Tarmadon, their leader.

"The warrior team managed to defeat the rebels and the First Spinjitzu Master with the aid of the empress herself, and the rebels retreated for a long time. Lord Tarmadon turned to the service of the empress, like his son did after releasing the Scaletine. During that time, the warrior team dedicated themselves to training the citizens who would become the soldiers of the empress' army.

"And then we learned-" he stopped mid-sentence. He had a wicked gleam in his eye. "-that there was a realm parallel to our own, identical but opposite."

The Ninja immediately realized it was a trap. "Run!" Lloyd yelled. They tried to dash back up the stairs, but suddenly, strong green vines sprouted out of the ground, winding and coiling around the Ninja, binding their arms and legs to their sides. Their powers were completely useless against the vines.

"Who are you?" Lloyd demanded.

Olorin laughed, a menacing snicker. "Why, don't you know?" He pulled back his hood and threw off his cloak. He had dark windswept hair, and a red ninja gi identical to Lloyd's. "I am Olorin Tarmadon, Master of Amber, leader of the Phantom Ninja, son of Sensei Tarmadon, and parallel opposite of _you,_ **Lloyd Garmadon**."

Now that the Ninja could see his face in the light, they realized why Olorin seemed so familiar. His expressions and looks were exactly like Lloyd's! Even though the coloring of his hair and gi were Lloyd's inverse, Olorin could have been mistaken for Lloyd's evil twin. The only thing different about Olorin was his voice. It reminded the Ninja too much of Morro.

"Let us go!" Cole struggled against the vines pinning his arms to his sides.

"We haven't done anything to you!" Jay protested.

"Oh, but you have." Olorin's eyes burned with vengeance. "You see, after your Sensei Wu visited Phantago, he ripped a tiny seam in the fabric of the space and time between our worlds. Ninjago was the more powerful world out of the two, so when something major happens to you, it happens to us, but in reverse.

"For while you fight on the side of what you think is right and good, me and my team fight for the Empress Undara, your equivalent of the Overlord. While the First Spinjitzu Master holds power as the creator of Ninjago, we loyal fighters for the empress think of him as our Overlord, a spirit of darkness."

"Only to those who believe that the empress should rule Phantago," Zane managed to squeak as the vines wrapped tighter around him. "By what you say, Phantago is what Ninjago might have been like if the Overlord took over."

"Pretty much." Olorin raised his hand slightly, and the vines relaxed just a little. "Now come on. My teammates are _very_ keen to meet you."

The vines morphed into ropes, and the Ninja were forced to jump in small steps down the stairs behind Olorin. _How could we be so stupid as to fall into this trap?_ Cole thought as he jumped from step to step.

"Because you trusted a complete stranger," Olorin replied, smirking.

 _He must have touched a Mind Elementalist,_ Cole thought, shaking his head.

"You know I know everything you're thinking, Cole," Olorin called back. "And yes, I did touch a Mind Elementalist. Have no clue who he was, but when I figured out I could read my friends' minds. . . well, you see what came of that."

The Ninja followed Olorin in silence, slightly fearful of what might await them at the cavern.

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Seeing Double**

At the end of the stairs, there was a large, circular plaza, with mysterious inscriptions engraved into the floor. It was solid stone, practically immovable. "This looks strangely familiar," Lloyd muttered.

"Like the way Olorin looked strangely familiar?" Jay asked sarcastically.

"It _should_ look familiar," Cole said suddenly. "This looks like the floor of the Temple of Light."

It did look like the Temple of Light's floor. But instead of five Elemental symbols painted on the floor, there were eight, encircled in white, orange, black, green, red, green and orange, yellow, and blue. The symbols themselves were pitch black.

Once all eight captives were standing on the floor, Olorin released them from their bonds. "Don't run off if you know what's good for you," he warned.

* * *

 **Weird random fact: the name "Olorin" (which I legitly made up, by the way), is one of the names for Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. I kid you not.**


	6. Heroes Unwanted

**Hey again. I've got another plot bunny for you. I'm holding onto it - hold still, plot bunny - *plot bunny squirms frantically* and I'd really like to see it in action, so I'm testing out the beginning of the first chapter on y'all. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Title: Heroes Unwanted**

 **Summary: A team of young Serpentine hybrids (half-human, half-Serpentine) ask for the Ninja's help in gaining the trust of the people of Ninjago, but in the process, they have to gain the trust of the Ninja as well, especially regarding the heritage of one of their team members. . .**

 **When I Last Worked On It: August 22nd, 2016**

 **Notes: I don't really have any notes for this . . . it's pretty straightforward.**

 **Random Fact: . . . I don't have one here either.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: You Don't Want Their Help?**

 _Slam!_ Harrison sighed. Well, it wasn't like that was unexpected. Another day, another door. He'd grown used to it.

Adjusting his headdress so his mouth was more securely covered, he rejoined the five other young men and women waiting in the shadows for their leader's return.

"Let me guess," the girl dressed in red and white robes said, golden amber eyes glinting, "he didn't like that we helped him."

"No, he didn't, Felicity," Harrison replied. "When I asked if there was anything else we could do, he told me to leave or he'd call the police on us."

A muscular guy dressed in black, gray, and orange robes snorted sardonically. "Well, that's a first," he remarked, his Australian accent only intensifying the obvious irritation in his voice. "Maybe we should stop trying to help people, Harry, it's only making us less popular with pretty much everyone in Ninjago."

"I'm aware of that, Colorado, but we could use some encouragement right about now, not affirmation of negativity," Harrison replied, unable to mask his own frustration at his team's predicament. He glanced at a slim girl dressed in green and yellow, and her vivid lime-green eyes stared back, unblinking. "Well? Don't you have something to say, Vivian?"

"What makes you think that?" the girl, Vivian, responded. "I would only repeat the things I have told you time and time again, and as you have just mentioned, you would prefer encouragement over negativity, therefore you would prefer my silence over anything I would have to say."

"She's got a point," the girl named Felicity agreed, pulling back the top part of her hood to allow a long mess of dark red hair to tumble down her back.

Harrison released what sounded like a hiss of annoyance. "No use arguing over the obvious," he reluctantly conceded. "But one thing's certain: we're sleeping out on the streets again."

"I'm getting so sick of being kicked out of every town we've come to!" a teenager dressed in purple and black robes burst out in exasperation. "Why does everyone hate us so much? We're only trying to help!"

Harrison put an arm gently around the younger boy's shoulders, seeing the beginnings of tears welling up in his violet eyes. "It's okay, Alder, all of us are struggling with this constant rejection, but I understand why you have a harder time controlling your feelings about it. I'm sure that we'll find a permanent home somewhere, but for now, we just gotta keep moving."

"I know," Alder sniffled, wiping at his eyes with his overlong sleeve. "It just hurts . . . a lot."

His teammates nodded their silent agreement. Being the youngest of the group at age seventeen, Alder found it the hardest to deal with their difficult situation, and his simple and honest revelations about his feelings often stunned his older teammates with how wise his observations were.

One member of the team had not spoken yet, an eighteen-year-old girl with wavy strawberry blonde hair resting on her shoulders in slight curls. Her blue-green eyes flickered in the light of the setting sun, her silence unnoticed by the others as they settled in the alley to prepare for sleep.

But young Alder squirmed free from Harrison's hold to snuggle up against his older teammate. "You okay, Ilexia?" he asked, a little concerned.

Ilexia gave Alder a small smile. "Just a little tired, that's all," she said quietly. "You should get some sleep, Alderaan, we have a long journey tomorrow." Ilexia was the only one Alder allowed to casually use his full name.

Alder yawned, smiling sleepily as the eighteen-year-old girl gently wrapped an arm around her young friend's waist.


	7. Status Update

**A Status Update**

 **Okay, so this is a rather lengthy status update.**

 **So, I have what may be considered bad news to deliver. As of this time in my FanFiction life, I've decided that, unfortunately, I'm going to have to remove some of my stories.**

 **Here's the list of the stories I'm planning to remove:** _Allies With the Axis, Dial "N" For Ninja, Darkness: A New Vengeance_ , _Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya_ ), _Agents of D.R.A.G.O.N.: The Elemental Soldiers_ , _Dragonsfire High: From Frenzied Freshmen to Senior Citizens,_ _Mr. Walker Goes to Town, Jaws of Fear,_ and _A Method to His Madness_.

 **Now, before you start going on a tirade about "what kind of a monster are you I was waiting for an update on those stories for ages I hate you and you should die in a hole somewhere", I'm going to give you my reasons for removing them.**

 _Allies With the Axis_ : this AU is dear to my heart, it really is. But I didn't do my research on the subject matter (in this case, the battles of WWII), and I honestly don't write modern warfare sequences very well. Over time, the story ended up falling apart behind-the-scenes, and for this reason, I cannot continue it. This one is probably the one I'm the most sad about having to give up on.

 _Dial "N" For Ninja_ : frankly, this story fell apart when I tried to continue it. I couldn't come up with an ending, period.

 _Darkness: A New Vengeance_ : I wrote this when I was in middle-school. I have no interest in continuing it because of the major plot holes (e.g. the Ninjas'/kids ages suggest that the Ninja were fifteen when they had their kids) , and the direction of the story suggests yet another OC-centric "kids of the Ninja" plot that I find a somewhat irritating and overused trope. I also had too many OCs to keep track of.

 _Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya)_ : This was a challenge from a friend of mine who is no longer currently on the site. While the plot premise was a good one, I honestly cannot write Jay with anyone other than Nya, and my motivation for the fic have since faded. In other words, my romantic affections for Jay have transitioned to a character in another fandom, and I no longer ship myself with him, which was the challenge from said friend.

 _Agents of D.R.A.G.O.N.: The Elemental Soldiers_ : Plot premise was okay, but I actually ended up getting into the fandom I was very loosely referencing (which would be **Marvel** , by the way) so I cannot, in good conscience, continue this story. I also could not figure out how to transition the season's plotline into a spy-themed format, having never expressed keen interest in the spy genre.

 _Dragonsfire High: From Frenzied Freshmen to Senior Citizens_ : okay, if I'm being blunt, this was honestly just a way to generate readers. The "high school AU" is a popular trope (unfortunately), and being relatively new to the site, I wanted in on that trend. Honestly, I don't really want to embellish and water down a lifestyle (yes, I can call it a lifestyle) that is honestly not the fairy-tale people like to paint it to be. We've got enough of that trash in Hollywood, and I don't want to add to it. For the love of Gondor, that's why I'm a homeschooler!

 _Mr. Walker Goes to Town_ : While I still adore the movie I was attempting to adapt ( _Mr. Deeds Goes to Town_ ), I honestly just lost my mojo on this one.

 _Jaws of Fear_ : I'm just moving this temporarily, don't have a cow. It's going to pop up again within my Ninjago PeaceTime/WarTime canon.

 _A Method To His Madness_ : this plot also just really fell apart after several failed attempts behind-the-scenes.

 **And two reasons that cover all of my previous reasons, as well as explaining as to why I haven't updated much recently, are simply these:**

 **Reason #1**

This wasn't a choice I made on purpose - if you want something to blame, you'd have to pick a bone with Krux and Acronix: in other words, _**time**_. I've gotten older since I started most of these stories, and I have since realized one of my writing flaws. Whenever I got instantaneous inspiration for a story, I immediately wrote up a chapter for it and posted it. While this in of itself is not a flaw (I wish that instantaneous inspiration happened to me more often), my flaw is that I found myself unable to complete most of the stories for one reason or another, usually because I wasn't able to come up with a consistent follow-up to that first chapter (consistent in this sense meaning more than just a few chapters scattered throughout the plotline).

So, as a result, I'm trying to be more careful about what I update/post. So combined with my muse taking twenty-hour coffee breaks (fifteen hours on a good day), my update standards are lax (to quote Commodore Norrington).

 **Speaking of the good Commodore, who, as far as I know, has not yet made an appearance in** _ **Ninjago**_ **, that leads in to**

 **Reason #2**

While Ninjago is still in my list of Top 4 Fandoms, my muse doesn't seem very interested in my stories in that fandom. Beginning around fall of 2017, I've been putting my creative energy more into my _Lord of the Rings_ stories, as well as working on a yet-to-be-published _Pirates of the Caribbean_ series.

You're probably thinking, "Whoa, that's a switch. I'm surprised you still like Ninjago now that you're in the 'big league fandoms'." Well, while that may be true, I'm probably not going to lose my love for our favorite LEGO Ninja within the foreseeable future. Ninjago is, honestly, one of the best "kid" TV shows out there, and I personally think that it's more like those other franchises than meets the eye.

But yes, for the most part, my Ninjago stories are on the back burner at this point in time. While I do make an effort to work on continuing, and hopefully completing them, my inspiration is, as of this time, coming more naturally to me within the two other fandoms I mentioned.

A sub-reason for this change is what I'm wanting to write. Ninjago is a fun fandom, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's a tad difficult to write anything completely serious within the confines of the fandom canon. My Ninjago PeaceTime/WarTime series is my response to that problem, as part of my plans for the series include more serious versions of Seasons 6-9. But even so, my brain is forcing me to want to complete the PeaceTime series, which is gentler, before I continue onto the WarTime series, which is more gritty. My _Lord of the Rings_ and _Pirates of the Caribbean_ works lend themselves to allowing a more serious edge flow naturally into the writing, something that Ninjago does not do. My personal preference is to write darker works, with more violence and spiritual content than you've seen in my past works. I'm not saying I don't enjoy writing humorous works - I'm hoping to develop my parody-writing abilities in the future - but it doesn't come quite as naturally to me as serious works. I guess that's a part of my personality: in real life, I'm usually not nearly as hyper as I sound in my author's notes. This "status update" is probably the closest you're going to get to hearing the real me, barring getting adopted into my family.

But that's a tangent. What I'm trying to say is, basically, while Ninjago is a fun fandom to write for, as of this time in my life, other fandoms are a little easier for me to work with. I'm _not_ abandoning my Ninjago writing entirely, just setting it on the back burner, as I said. But, if you happen to like either of the two fandoms I've mentioned, you can always check out those stories.

 **However, you will be able to read what I posted, just don't expect me to ever update them. They'll be moved to** _ **The Raven Files**_ **within the next week.**

* * *

 **So, that's a lot of bad news (depending on who you are) to take in at once. So, I'm going to try to lighten up your day with my plans for my published and unpublished writings. I can say with 50% confidence that these ideas have stuck with me for long enough to announce them publicly.**

 _ **NINJAGO**_

 **Unpublished, Unwritten**

 _A Guide to My Canon  
_ **Status:** in the thought process, still to be outlined and titled  
 **Summary:** a supplementary volume to the Ninjago PeaceTime/WarTime series. Includes my canon regarding the history, culture, and physiology of Elemental Masters and Serpentine, as well as a relatively in-depth look into my Realm lore, which pervades throughout my various Ninjago canons.

 _A Delara/Jay AU  
_ **Status:** in the thought process, basic plot mentally mapped out: beginning, middle, and end determined, title to be determined  
 **Summary:** Jay, an affluent but kind-hearted young actor, "adopts" Delara, a cynical homeless woman and victim of divorce, into his life. Slow burn DelaraxJay.

 **Unpublished, But Partially Written**

 _A Study in Violet AND Murder on the_ Misfortune's Keep  
 **Status:** Total words written: 835  
 **Summary:** Detective AU: Cole and Jay are partners running a private detective agency. While they handle decidedly separate cases, their stories intertwine in interesting ways. No romance, only platonic relationships.

 _The Lords of the Elements  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 2,371  
 **Summary:** a Ninjago/Lord of the Rings crossover. Instead of being transported to the First Realm at the end of _Sons of Garmadon_ , Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai, and Wu are sent to Middle-Earth a few weeks before the events of _Fellowship of the Ring: Book II_ take place.

 _Playing God  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 4,090  
 **Summary:** inspired loosely by _Frankenstein_. Summary: My name is James Gordon - I live in London, England. The year is 1864. I'm the assistant to my father's best friend: a strange man called Lord Nadakhan. I'm not sure whether he's a doctor or an inventor; he appears to be both. But he's straying too far with his experiments: touching what shouldn't be touched. Do not try to play God. It never ends well.

 _Distorted Reflection  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 1,189  
 **Summary:** _Skybound_ role-switch: Delara replaces Nadakhan, Jay replaces Nya, Nya replaces Jay.

 _FroZane  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 11,765  
 **Summary:** literally just a Ninjago version of _Frozen_.

 **Partially Published (summaries will not be provided for stand-alone stories)**

 _Ninjago PeaceTime/WarTime Series  
_ **Status:** The Secret Life of Jay Walker is being revised, but entirety of plot is written out in skeletal form. Has a definite beginning, middle, and end.  
 **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 25,163

The Brothers Julien is on hold, but entirety of plot is written out in skeletal form. Has a definite beginning, middle, and end.  
 **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 2,900

You're A Good Man, Mr. Brookstone is on hold, but being mapped out. Has a definite beginning and middle, but lacking an ending.  
 **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 0

The Fire of Kai Smith is on hold, but being mapped out. Has a definite beginning and middle, but lacking an ending.  
 **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 0

 _Ninjago WarTime_ is on temporary hold, but is being mapped out. Has a definite beginning, middle, and "ending." (Ending is in quotes due to Ninjago not having an foreseeable cancellation date)  
 **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 429

 **Summary:** The four Ninjago PeaceTime series begin shortly after the events of Possession, which is dated July 2015. The longest of the series is _The Secret Life of Jay Walker_ , which is slated to have four books: A Grief Observed, Surprised by Jay, and two untitled volumes, as well as a supplementary collection of assorted stories. _The Brothers Julien_ is also determined to be four books long: Zorane, Only an Echo, InZane Temper Problems, and Parenting IneXperiences And Lessons. The lengths of the two remaining series are yet to be determined. The series chronicle the events in the Ninja's lives in between Possession and Skybound (although overlapping may occur). The multi-book series are to be supplemented with at least two stand-alone books: _Ronin's Ruin_ and _an untitled volume covering the Ninjas' experiences from before the pilot season onward_.

The _Ninjago WarTime_ series is, as of August 2018, slated to be nine books long and is in essence revised versions of Seasons 6-9. The series shall include Ancestors of Spinjitzu, Our Tested Love (Skybound), Weakness Makes You Stronger (Day of the Departed), Quality Time With My Friends (Wu's Teas), Time Marches On (Hands of Time), Breaching Walls (Decoded), The Measure of a Master (Sons of Garmadon), Even Divided, We Shall Stand (Hunted), and an untitled volume regarding the vents to take place in the early 2019 four-episode special.

 _Plot Twist  
_ **Status:** on hold. Entirety of plot mapped out in skeletal form. A determined beginning, middle and end.  
 **Total Currently Unpublished Words:** 150

 _Runaways and Royalty  
_ **Status:** on hold. Entirety of plot mapped out in skeletal form. A determined beginning, middle and end.  
 **Total Currently Unpublished Words:** 10,219

 _Falling Inside the Black  
_ **Status:** on hold. Two-thirds of plot mapped out in skeletal form. Beginning and middle determined, lacking an ending.  
 **Total Currently Unpublished Words:** 3,302

 **ALL COLLECTIONS ARE EXEMPT FROM UPDATE SCHEDULES, AS THEY DO NOT HAVE CONNECTING STORIES. THIS RULE ALSO APPLIES TO ADAPTATIONS (e.g. Robin Jay)**

And because I'm not just a Ninjago writer anymore, I'll also include an update status for my future/published works in my other fandoms.

* * *

 _ **LORD OF THE RINGS**_

 **Unpublished, Unwritten**

 _Elves and Ahnuld and Sailor Fuku, Oh My!  
_ **Status:** being mapped out.  
 **Summary:** a Mary-Sue bashing/parody fic. Let's just say that some of Middle-Earth's eligible (and not-so-eligible) bachelors are in for a crazy time.

 **Unpublished, But Partially Written**

 _Why Didn't I Listen to Me?!  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 752  
 **Summary:** "Why didn't I listen to me?!" That's the thought Legolas has after he accepts Aragorn's offer of a much-needed haircut. Why oh why did he trust this delicate task to a Ranger whose idea of personal hygiene was dousing himself with soapy water every few months or so? Legolas wonders just how much of his dignity will be left when Aragorn's finished . . . and how will his father react? Oh Valar. . .

 _Why Are Santa's Helpers Called "Elves"?  
_ **Status:** Total Words Written: 625  
 **Summary:** a Christmas story that explores the puzzling use of calling those strange little pixies depicted as Santa's helpers "Elves."

 **Partially Published**

 _Song of an Archer_ series  
 **Status:** New Leaf, Axing the Sapling, and The Elven Ranger have been mapped out. Nothing for these stories have been written yet.  
What My Elf-Eyes Saw and Falling Leaves have been partially mapped out, but not published. WME-ES is being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 3,719  
Roots of Bitterness has been published, and is actively being worked on. It is completely mapped out. **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 17,666  
 **Summary:** The _Song of an Archer_ series chronicles the life of Prince Legolas Thranduilion, the son of Thranduil, Elvenking of Mirkwood, traveling from before his birth to after the War of the Ring. In order, the books are as follows: New Leaf, Axing the Sapling, The Elven Ranger, What My Elf-Eyes Saw, Roots of Bitterness, and Falling Leaves. While I have not released them in this order, they do not need to be read in any particular order, as I allude to events referenced in unpublished volumes in a way that don't confuse the reader. They are to be supplemented by three other stories: _South of the Border_ , _Guarding the Insane_ , and _Unfinished Business_.

 _Middle-Earth Musical_ series  
 **Status:** The Sound of Music and Rosie Cotton have been mentally mapped out, but nothing for these stories have been written yet.  
The Military Man is on hold, but has been mapped out. **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 1,159  
 **Summary:** The _Middle-Earth Musical_ series are _Lord of the Rings_ adaptations of classic musicals. The Sound of Music is the adaptation of the musical of the same name, includes ThranduilxOC and brief LegolasxTauriel. Rosie Cotton is the adaptation of _Mary Poppins_ , and includes SamxRosie. The Military Man is the adaptation of _The Music Man_ , and includes AragornxArwen, and to warn those haters, mild LegolasxTauriel.

 _Middle-Earth Tales_ series  
 **Status:** Love Your Neighbor is on hold, but has been completely mapped out. **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 296  
 **Summary:** The _Middle-Earth Tales_ series are _Lord of the Rings_ retellings of Biblical parables. Love Your Neighbor is an adaptation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37 of the New Testament in the Bible.

 _Fellowship Collective_ series  
 **Status:** Nine Walkers Nine Square is being mapped out, partially written: 1,126. All Hallow's Eve is on hold, hasn't been completely mapped out. **Total Unpublished Words Written:** 3,959  
 **Summary:** Additional stories set in the _Song of an Archer_ universe, but focusing on the Fellowship. All Hallow's Eve takes place in the October after the War of the Ring, when Legolas, Aragorn and several members of the Fellowship are summoned to a cursed fortress on All Hallow's Eve (Halloween).

* * *

 _ **PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN**_

 **Unpublished, Unwritten**

 _The Unfortunate Luck of William Turner  
_ **Status:** completely mapped out. Just haven't gotten the words onto paper.  
 **Summary:** Embellished parody of Studio C's "Lady Gordon's Fainting Spells" sketch. At a party hosted by Governor Swann, Will Turner's hopes to impress the _bee-yoo-tiful_ Elizabeth fall awry, thanks to her less attractive aunt and his irritating frenemy, Captain James Norrington. And you'd think being a blacksmith would help develop his muscles more. . .

 **Unpublished, Partially Written**

 _Caribbean Horizon_ series  
 **Status:** Uncharted Horizons (Off the Edge of the Map) is mapped out and being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 7,818  
Dangerous Horizons (Do You Fear Death?) is being reworked, but being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 2,412  
Pagan Horizons (How Cruel I Can Be) is mapped out and being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 1,349  
Defiant Horizons (Liberty or Death!) is mapped out and being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 3,775  
Familiar Horizons (Break the Curse) is partially mapped out and being actively worked on. **Total Words Written:** 487  
 **Summary:** The _Caribbean Horizons_ series chronicles the adventures of Annabeth Revere, Elizabeth's cousin and an American colonist from Boston on the brink of the American Revolution. Stays true to movie-canon (aside from the timeline) for _Curse of the Black Pearl,_ _Dead Man's Chest_ , and _At World's End_ ; disregards _On Stranger Tides_ and _Dead Men Tell No Tales_. Eventual WillxOC and some possible Liz-bashing.

* * *

 **So, now we come to the end of what was supposed to be a brief update. Whoops. Well . . . if you want to talk to me about anything regarding what I said, including ideas for curing my writer's block on specific stories, my PM box is always open.**

 **God bless.**

 **-JRR (not Tolkien)**

 **#God's Not Dead!  
#Fear Isn't a Word Where I Come From! Perfect Love Casts Out _All_ Fear!  
#ForeverNinjNerd!  
#ForeverTolkieneer!  
#ForeverTurnerLass!**


	8. Allies With the Axis (Part 1)

**Ugh, I hate putting this one here. I'm praying God will restore my inspiration for this story, but in the meantime, it's here to stay for awhile. I think I'm tearing up. . .**

 **If you want my reason for putting this here, please consult Chapter 7.**

* * *

 **Title:** Allies With the Axis **  
**

 **Summary:** Five young men on the opposite sides of World War II collide on the battlefield, and they try to escape capture by Hitler when they discover they share a very important secret: a secret that could change their lives for the worse. Contains Christian themes.

 **When I Last Worked On It:** March 29th, 2016

 **When I First Posted It:** November 15th, 2015

 **Notes:** It's an AU, so there's a lot of off-canon stuff.

* * *

 **1\. Called to War**

 _Knock! Knock! Knock!_ Zane Julien opened the door of the London flat that he and his parents lived in. "Top of the afternoon to you, Mr. Williams!" he greeted the visitor cheerfully.

The postman returned Zane's friendly smile half-heartedly. "Won't you come in for tea?" Zane invited.

"I wouldn't wanna intrude on your 'ospitality, guv'nor," Williams said uncertainly.

"You wouldn't be intruding at all," Zane assured him. "Come in, it's colder than the dickens out there!"

Williams stepped into the Julien flat. Cozily decorated, a fire was roaring in the sitting room fireplace, surrounded by comfortable velvet-covered chairs. Family paintings lined the walls, the most recent one hanging above the mantle over the fireplace. It depicted a smiling older couple, their hands resting on the shoulders of a young man sitting between them: Mr. and Mrs. Julien, and their son, Zane, who was already busy making his guest comfortable.

Twenty-one-year-old Zane was tall and handsome, with snowy blond hair styled in a neat flat-top, eyes the same blue-gray color of an cloudy English sky, and a kind smile. He was always eager to please, overflowing with hospitality for anyone who entered or was invited into the Julien home. Everyone who knew Zane liked his warm and sweet personality.

"Ah, Williams! Welcome, welcome!" Mr. Julien's jovial smile warmed Williams even more than the blazing fire. "I see Zane's busy with tea already, the good lad. Sit yourself down, Williams, make yourself at home. You look cold enough to chill even a penguin!"

"Thank ye kindly, guv'nor," Williams said gratefully, taking a seat in front of the fire.

Mrs. Julien and Zane came in from the kitchen with tea and biscuits on a silver tray. Once the family and their guest were settled with what they wanted, Zane asked, "What news from the town do you have to deliver today, Mr. Williams?"

Williams' smile faded. "Today's the kind o'day when I 'ates d'liverin' the mail to sech kind and 'ospitable folk like yersel's, Maister Zane," he said sadly.

"What troubles you?" the young man asked, concerned.

Williams dug through his mail bag and handed Zane a small postcard, along with the latest issue of the _London Times_. "Read the 'eadlines firs', I 'opes it takes a bit o'the sting out o'the card," Williams advised.

Zane unfolded the the newspaper and read the headlines out loud as follows: "' **Hitler Invades Poland! Great Britain and France Declare War on This Rising Threat to Europe!** '"

After staring at the headlines for five minutes, Zane took the postcard and read it silently. "What is it, dear?" his mother asked anxiously.

"I've been called to appear for a physical examination next Tuesday," Zane said quietly. "I've been drafted into the British army."

"Oh, Zane!" Mrs. Julien hugged her son tightly, tears rolling down her plump rosy cheeks. Zane put his arms around his mother.

"This is preposterous!" Mr. Julien sounded almost angry. "They can't just call any young English citizen to war without─"

"Father," Zane said, looking up from his mother's face to his father's, "even if I had a choice, I would fight for our mother England with my whole heart. Hitler is a dangerous man, and if we don't stop him, who will?"

In truth, Zane was frightened at the prospect of fighting and killing other human beings, especially complete strangers whom he held no grudges against, but he put on a brave face for his parents. "God will protect me on the battlefield," he said. "He will never leave me, nor forsake me. So long as I'm fighting for Him, He will be there for me."

Mrs. Julien raised her tear-filled eyes up to look at her only son. "Be brave, my dearest," she whispered, voice choked with uncried sobs.

"I will be, Mother," Zane told her gently.

* * *

"But Jay, you can't!" Nya protested.

Jay Marcheur looked into the worried amber eyes of his fiancee. "But I have to, _ma chere_ ," he told her, holding her soft hands in his own. "France needs all the help she can have to fight Hitler and the Nazis. You know that as well as I do."

"Yes, but . . ." Nya's eyes filled with tears. "I don't want to lose you. If you go off to war, you may never come back."

The French youth laid a hand gently on her cheek.

At age twenty-one, Jacques Marcheur, nicknamed Jay by his friends and family, had a bright and happy future lying ahead of him. Living on the outskirts of the city of Paris, Jay had the looks and personality that reflected his home country. He had bright auburn hair that stubbornly refused to be tidy, blue eyes that mirrored a cloudless summer sky; a tall, lean figure; and a helpful, inventive, and positive approach to life. He was always ready to lend a helping hand, especially with his parents' farm, where he had six younger siblings to care for as well as tending the produce. Everyone who had some connection to the Marcheur family found Jay a hard-working, imaginative, and charming youth.

He and Nya, both deeply in love with each other, were engaged to be married the next spring. Unfortunately, those plans would have to be put on hold, thanks to a little postcard that had arrived that morning for Jay.

Now, he was trying to comfort his fiancee after he had told her the bad news: he had been drafted in the French army to help England fight against Germany.

"I will come back to you," Jay told Nya, softly stroking her cheek, catching one of the tears that was making its slow progress down her face. "I know that God will shield me in combat. Nothing happens before its rightful time, Nya. God won't take me away unless He has reason to. But I think He still has need for me here. With you. But, _les chemins de Dieu pour nous ne sont pas toujours une ligne droite_."

"'God's paths for us aren't always a straight line,'" Nya repeated, grasping Jay's hand tightly in hers.

"Exactly. Don't worry, _ma cherie_ , God will bring me home." Jay leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "Come on, I've got to tell my family."

 **~The Marcheur farmhouse~**

"Don't leave me, Jay!" Seven-year-old Isabelle wailed, clinging to her brother's leg and crying pitifully.

Jay lifted Isabelle in his arms and looked her in the eye. "I won't be gone for long, Isabelle," he said, trying hard to hold back his own tears as his little sister's lower lip trembled. "I'll come back, I promise."

"You promise?" Isabelle asked tearfully, scrubbing at her eyes with a small fist.

"I promise."

Jay's five-year-old brother, Jean, was determinedly keeping a straight face. "I won't cry," he told Jay resolutely. "I'm a big boy. Big boys don't cry."

"Yes, but big boys also know when it's the right time to cry," Jay told Jean, setting down Isabelle and now looking into Jean's face, the little boy stubbornly holding back tears.

Jay's oldest sister, eighteen-year-old Gabrielle, had her face buried in her hands, sobbing unashamedly. Jay hated to see his favorite and closest sister so upset, but he couldn't find the right words to soothe her like he'd had for Nya, Isabelle, and Jean. So he put a hand on her back, and hope that just him sitting there with her would help. When she felt Jay's hand on her back, Gabrielle turned and hugged him tightly, weeping into his shoulder. Jay put both arms around her, and gently stroked her brown-blonde hair. Just his presence there calmed Gabrielle down, and her sobs soon subsided into weak hiccups.

Jay's parents, Monsieur and Madame Marcheur, had received their oldest's news with pain. "If they call Jay off to war," Madame Marcheur said fearfully, "they might call Emile or George next, and George is in no fit state to serve!"

"Can't you ask for a discharge, _mon fils_?" Monsieur Marcheur asked fretfully. "Tell them it'll be nearly impossible for our farm to survive without your help?"

"I could, but they'll probably reject it, as there are other healthy sons who can work instead of me," Jay said, gently releasing Gabrielle. "Emile could get off with a discharge, since George can't work, and he's the only one old enough to be the man of the family. But, maybe he won't get called at all."

"Jay-jay?" A small hand tugged on his pant leg. Jay looked down to see his nine-year-old sister, Fleur, gazing up at him with wide blue eyes.

"What is it, Fleur?" he asked kindly, kneeling down to her eye-level.

"Will you get hurt in the war?" she asked, worried.

Jay put a hand on Fleur's shoulder. "I'll try to avoid it," he said, smiling.

Fleur smiled back, but weakly. "Please don't get hurt, Jay," she whispered.

Jay's eyes welled up with tears, and this time he didn't hold them back.

* * *

"I can't do it!" Cole stamped his foot angrily. "I'm not a fighter, Papa!"

"But you also have to fulfill your duty as a Russian citizen by fighting for your country, Cole!" Mr. Black said, exasperated. "Are you a Russian boy or not?"

"Sometimes I wish I weren't!" Cole shouted. "Then I wouldn't have to live up to so much!"

His older brother Josef smirked at him. "If you don't fight," he sneered, "everyone will call you a _trus_ , a coward."

Cole ground his teeth. "You stay out of this," he snarled.

Twenty-two-year-old Cole Black was a young man with a severely misleading appearance. With thick black hair with side-swept bangs, thick eyebrows, piercing dark eyes, and often a serious expression on his face, anyone could have mistaken him for the model Russian youth. But his attitude was anything but model. He adamantly refused to follow or believe anything that went against his own personal thoughts, which was nearly everything his father tried to make him think. The only reason he was still living with his father and his aggravatingly perfect older brother Josef was because of his mother, Vanessa, who was gravely ill. Cole felt like the only way he was related to this family of model Russians was through his mother, who loved him and treated him the way his father couldn't and wouldn't do.

"Josef is taking the situation like a true man should!" Mr. Black hissed back at his son. "Looking it in the face and accepting it bravely!"

"Stop comparing me to Josef!" Cole couldn't take it anymore. "I'm not Josef! I'll never be Josef! I don't want to be Josef! I'm my own person, with my own life! If it wasn't for Mama, I wouldn't even be here! But I chose to stay, for her sake! I can make my own decisions!"

"Not decisions of this kind, you can't!" Mr. Black roared, his temper finally at an end. "You are going to join the army and fight Hitler even if it kills you!"

"You don't even care about how I feel about this, do you?" Cole was almost screaming with rage. "All YOU care about is that I be the son who's absolutely, positively PERFECT! Just. Like. Josef." He was seething with fury now. "Well, I'm going to talk to Mama, and if she says I should fight, I'll fight. But I'll do it for her, not because you want me to."

WIth that, he turned on his heel and stormed upstairs. But before walking into his mother's room, he stopped at the door. She'd probably heard their argument from downstairs. He needed to cool off first before he talked to her. He turned and went back down the hall, to his own room, and shut and locked the door behind him.

His fluffy gray-and-white cat, Kit, mewed at him as he threw himself on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Cole looked over at Kit, who gave him a quizzical stare before curling herself up into a ball and falling asleep. Cole decided to take a cue from his pet, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

 **~About an hour later~**

Cole felt fully relaxed and calm enough to attempt to talk to his mother about his call to service. He tentatively knocked on his mother's door. " _Voydite_ ," came her soft voice from inside.

Cole opened the door and stepped inside her room. " _Eto ya_ , Mama," he said.

"Cole." Mrs. Black smiled at her youngest son. "Come closer to the bed, dear."

He sat down beside the bed in the armchair that used to be at her desk. "I sense you're worried, my sweet," she said softly. "What troubles you?"

Cole poured out the story of the draft card and his argument with his father that had happened only an hour before. Mrs. Black shook her head sadly. "What your father said was hurtful," she agreed, "he could have expressed his desire more kindly, I'm sure. But you do know your attitude wasn't the best either."

Cole nodded. Now that his mind was more clear, he was ashamed of himself and the way he behaved. "What do you think, Mama?" he asked. "Should I go fight?"

Mrs. Black stared into space, a thoughtful expression on her pale-skinned face. "From my own heart, I do not think you should," she said, resting a weak hand on her son's cheek. "But, the patriotic part of me says you should fight. Not to kill or hurt, but to protect our country and our people."

Cole nodded again. "I know. That's what I'm thinking too," he said. "But I don't want to kill anyone. I don't have the guts. Josef's right, I'm a coward." He hung his head.

"Don't say that about yourself, Cole," his mother scolded, tilting his head back up. "You're one of the bravest boys I've seen in a long time. Just because you have a heart for peace doesn't mean you're a coward. There is a difference between murder and killing, if you're afraid you'll be committing murder. And if you give it some thought, you will know that difference. Read your Bible, Cole. It has all the answers you need. And, if you do go off to war, remember to take it with you. Along with all my love."

Cole looked into his mother's emerald green eyes, trying to keep his own from filling with tears. "But Mama," he said softly, "I may never see you again if I go."

Mrs. Black nodded, but she smiled at Cole. "I am well aware of my risk, my dearest," she told him. "But you know what I look like even when I'm not there, don't you?"

"Yes, but that's not the same as actually being there with you."

"Ah, you are a wise and thoughtful young man, Cole Black," she said, running her hand gently through his thick dark hair, "you value things that are of the _best_ value. That's a trait that's hard to find today." She leaned upward and kissed her son on the cheek. "Be brave, my son. And even if you don't see me again, I will be waiting for you with our Heavenly Father."

Tears ran down Cole's cheeks as he hugged his mother.

* * *

 **Foreign Translations**

 **French**

 **Marcheur:** Walker (French last name for Jay)  
 **ma chere:** dearest  
 **les chemins de Dieu pour nous ne sont pas toujours une ligne droite:** God's paths for us aren't always a straight line.  
 **ma cherie:** my darling  
 **mon fils:** my son

 **Russian/Yiddish**

 **trus:** coward  
 **Voydite:** Come in.  
 **Eto ya:** It's me


	9. Allies With the Axis (Part 2)

**The reason for moving this here is in Chapter 7.**

 **Story statistics are in Chapter 8.**

* * *

 **2\. On the Other Side of the War**

Kai Todaro stared at the small postcard that had arrived in his mailbox. Without reading it, he already knew what it was. It was the same card that had killed his father. And that had almost killed his mother. _Mother's not going to like this,_ he thought, clenching the card in his fist. _Why do I have to live in Japan, of all places? Especially under a_ _jāku_ _like Hirohito._ His grandfather had been drafted into the army and killed in the Great War because of this stupid postcard, his father had run away and had been executed because of this card, and now it was his turn.

Twenty-one-year-old Kai Todaro was a somewhat unconventional-looking Japanese youth. He had spiky brown hair that could never be flattened or straightened, almond-shaped eyes the color of an amber gem, and a lean and muscular figure. He always wore red, even though he hated what the color had now come to represent. He was known for being hot-headed and reckless, and he had an easily-roused temper that matched his fiery personality perfectly. He had a stubborn streak, and he disturbed his neighbors with his hidden but firm disagreements with Emperor Hirohito's rule; because while everyone else in his hometown obeyed Hirohito without question, Kai held his own standards about how a country should be ruled.

"What came in the mail, today, _darin_?" Mrs. Todaro called.

"Only this card, Mother!" Kai replied, closing the door behind him. "And I don't think you'll like it."

He handed his mother the postcard. Mrs. Todaro read it, almond brown eyes widening in horror. " _Masaka!_ You haven't!"

"Yes, I have," Kai said grimly. "I've been enlisted to fight in Emperor Hirohito's army to help Hitler against England, France, and Russia."

"But this cannot be!" Mrs. Todaro moaned, dropping the card and sinking to her knees. "I've already lost my husband and my father to the army, I can't lose my only son!" She buried her head in her hands.

Kai knelt down next to his mother. He hated to see her so upset, her almond brown eyes brimming with tears. "I'm sorry I've upset you, Mother," he said, putting a hand on her back. "I don't want to do this any more than you don't want me to. But I don't really have a choice. It's either this─" he gestured to the card, which was now lying on the floor, "─or execution. I hate Hirohito, but I know that fighting for Japan is the best thing for me and you right now, even if I disagree with the way our country is run."

" _Shikashi, watashi wa anata o ushinaitaku arimasen! Anata wa watashi no yuiitsu no musukodesu!"_ Mrs. Todaro cried, horrified by her son's words.

Kai was near tears himself. "I know the risk I'm taking, Mother," he said, struggling to keep his voice steady, "but it would be an even greater risk if I tried to refuse my way out of this. But no matter how many risks there will be, _Kami wa watashi no ashioto o michibiku, watashi no soba ni migi ni narimasu:_ God will be right beside me, guiding my footsteps. Take comfort in those words, Mother. The Almighty will be watching over me on the battlefield, and you here at home."

Mrs. Todaro wiped her eyes on her kimono sleeve. "You are right, my son," she whispered. " _Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu._ " Kai put his arms around his mother, for he never knew when he might ever embrace her, or even see her, again.

* * *

"This is _imperdonabile_!" Signor Garmadon stormed, clenching his fists in rage as he paced the floor of the living room. "My son, barely just turned twenty, called to fight a battle against the wrong side?! It's _ridicolo_! I say we move away until this war is over."

"But where would we go?" Signora Garmadon demanded, twisting her dark braid around her hand anxiously. "We have no family that would take us in anywhere outside of Italy, and it's too dangerous to cross into the United States."

Signor Garmadon slumped against a chair, his anger evaporating quicker than snow in an Italian summer. He held his head in his hands, too miserable to speak. His son, Lloyd, sat quietly nearby, holding his black-and-white cat, Figaro, in his arms.

Despite his English-sounding name, Lloyd Garmadon embraced his Italian blood wholeheartedly. Living in the historic city of Milan, the twenty-year-old had never any desire to explore the world outside of Italy. With windswept blond hair, emerald green eyes, and a friendly smile for everyone, Lloyd caught the eye of many girls in his neighborhood. But he didn't really pay them much attention. He was a bit of a loner, preferring to stay home and read rather than do rough-and-tumble things with the other boys in their community.

He had given his parents the draft card with reluctance, knowing how his father would react. Signor Garmadon hated the fascist way Italy was run, especially with Mussolini in control, who was, in his mind: "a _tiranno_ no better than Hitler."

After hearing his father ranting about how unfair it was for Lloyd to be forced to fight for the wrong cause, Lloyd said quietly, "Papà, you know I don't have a choice about who I fight against."

"I know that," Signor Garmadon said, giving Lloyd a bit of a confused look.

"But I _do_ have a choice about who, or what, I fight for," Lloyd continued, letting Figaro squirm out of his arms and scamper off. "I know you hate Mussolini, and the idea of me fighting for him, but I'm not. I'm fighting for the safety of Italy, and for what we _used_ to stand for."

"But what it stands for now is a complete _disordine_!" Signor Garmadon exclaimed.

"I know that, Papà," Lloyd said calmly. "I hate Mussolini as much as you do, but I have a duty to _Mater Italiae_ to protect her. Who knows? Maybe this war could end Mussolini's rule over our country, and the corruption will be kept at bay. Whatever the case may be, I'm certain that it's the will of God that'll ultimately be my reason for fighting. I'm fighting to bring His truth back, even though I'm on the side that doesn't believe the same."

Signor Garmadon sighed. "You're right, my son," he said. "Even though I do harbor some minor doubts about your convictions, I know you're right. God will ultimately determine the fate of this war, and He may bless us with a defeat."

"That's the first time I've ever heard you say that before," Lloyd said, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"And it'll probably be the last time," Signor Garmadon replied. "But the current circumstances permit me to say it, just this once."

Signora Garmadon gave her son a tight squeeze. "Be careful, _carissimo_ ," she told him quietly. "Come home to us, will you?"

"I will try, Mama," Lloyd said, hugging her back. "I will surely try."

* * *

 **Foreign Translations**

 **Japanese (note: being a student of Japanese, I must point out that at the time of this writing, I did not write the translations entirely grammatically correct. My apologies for my younger self.)**

 **jaku:** jerk  
 **darin:** darling  
 **Masaka!:** No!  
 **Shikashi, watashi wa anata o ushinaitaku arimasen! Anata wa watashi no yuiitsu no musukodesu!** : (roughly) But you're my only son! I can't lose you!  
 **Kami wa watashi no ashioto o michibiku, watashi no soba ni migi ni narimasu:** (roughly) God will be beside me, guiding my footsteps.  
 **Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu:** (roughly) I love you.

 **Italian**

 **imperdonabile:** unforgivable, inexcusable  
 **ridicolo:** ridiculous  
 **disordine:** mess  
 **carissimo:** dearest

 **Latin**

 **Mater Italiae:** Mother Italy


	10. Dial N For Ninja (Part 1)

**Yet another victim of loss of inspiration. Ugh, sometimes I really hate myself. . . The style I wrote this in was really fun, and I really want to try this particular brand of detective story again. Someday. . .**

 **For the reason why I have to move this here, consult Chapter 7.**

* * *

 **Title: Dial "N" For Ninja**

 **Summary:** When you've got a serious kidnapping on your hands, you've got to hire an equally serious, hard-boiled detective to solve the mystery. This is from the case files of Jay Walker, Private Eye. (AU)

 **Last Time I Worked On It:** March 2nd, 2017

 **Original Publishing Date:** February 13th, 2016

 **Notes:** My inspiration for this particular writing style was influenced by the "Tracer Bullet" plotlines from the popular comic strip _Calvin and Hobbes_.

* * *

 **1\. It Was A Dark and Stormy Night**

The raindrops slid down my window like a torrent of kids on a snow day. Lightning whips snapped and cracked down on the New Ninjago City streets, beating our wind-tossed metropolis with the ruthlessness of a hardened slave driver. The rumble of thunder filled my ears like the roaring of a dragon. It was a night worthy of any big-nosed, beagle-faced author's typewriter.

Me? I was snug inside my cozy little office, if your definition of cozy walked arm-in-arm with cramped. I couldn't even sneeze without the mucus ricocheting off the walls half-a-dozen times before coming back to meet its maker, in this case, yours truly.

* * *

Who am I? I'm Walker, Jay Walker. Sadly, my handle was given to me by parents who had a quirky sense of humor and not much else. Not exactly the best name to give if you're asking for a private eye. Which not many people were these days.

Even so, I make a good amount of dough in the detective business for a guy with a name that suggests I zig-zag across the street for kicks. Snooping pays the bills, all right, particularly Bill, the tenant owner, and Bill, the street thug. But hey, I'm a hard-boiled, cynical, sarcastic kinda private eye. Not much gets to me, even paying a thug for the right to cross the street. Which I should address pretty soon, because I'm getting slightly ticked off about that. . .

I prefer my books printed in black-and-white, no illustrations, just the cold, hard story. Once you've entered _my_ office, don't expect me to sit there with a hanky blowing my nose while you pour out a gut-wrenching tale of woe at the loss of your jewels or some other ridiculous personal item that's weaseled its way into your affections. That doesn't help anyone, especially not me.

No, I'm not some heartless Scrooge-type of investigator whose only ambition is to hoard as many greenbacks as I can get my white-gloved paws on. I just happen to hide my feelings under a sardonic exterior. They're locked with a Fidelius Charm, and I'm the Secret-Keeper. Exposed emotions in the detective business could take you down faster than a man knocked on the back of the head. Not that I've ever experienced such a thing.

* * *

Speaking of feelings, it was my affections for a certain young lady that got me into one of my most dangerous cases, the one that begins "It was a dark and stormy night," the one I'm talking about right now. So listen up.

Miss Nya was my buddy's younger sister, and when I first got a glimpse of her, my heart did a Fred Astaire tap dance routine, immediately followed by a slew of flamenco dancers with castanets a'clicking. She was a raven-haired beauty, with the figure of Ginger Rogers and the sweetness and spunk of Shirley Temple. To soon find out she had a liking for me when I liked her back was more satisfying than a well-solved case.

Miss Nya and I couldn't see each other all that often, but when we did, my hard-boiled exterior peeled away as easily as soaked pajamas. I loved her more than I ever thought possible.

* * *

So it came as a bit of a surprise to see the self-same dame's big brother come knocking on my door that dark and stormy night. Now, Kai and I are on pretty good terms, considering I was courting his sister, and Kai was more protective of her than a hermit crab was of his shell. But to say it straight out, sometimes our personalities clash worse than the Greeks and the Romans did in those days of who-knows-when.

* * *

Someone rapped urgently on my door. Extinguishing my fake cigarette, I called, "Come in." I don't actually smoke, I just stick an old sucker stick in my mouth and pretend it works. That usually results with me spitting the stick out a few seconds later, because if it did work, I would have spat out the cigarette before I even opened the cigarette package.

Now, normally in these _film noir_ -type stories, a mysterious dark-eyed dame comes slinking in with a sob-story about her fiance's murder or the sudden disappearance of her best diamond necklace, but this isn't exactly your normal detective story. That, and I already told you that the caller was Mr. Kai Smith.

My high-class business associate pal came dashing in, and I immediately knew something was wrong. How did I know that? Because Kai was soaking wet, and he wasn't carrying an umbrella or a coat. Something would really have had to upset him for him to even come out in this weather, when his least favorite substance was pouring out of the sky in bedsheets, complete with a four-poster bed, goose-down comforter, and feather pillows.

"Hold on," I said, holding up my hand to prevent him from sitting down. Reaching lazily over to my right, I unceremoniously stripped my window of its garments and tossed them over the chair in front of my desk. When Kai gave me an utterly perplexed look, I shrugged. "Hey, this stuff is hard enough to keep in perfect condition as it is. I've got more curtains where that came from. I'm not letting that chair get soaked."

A weak smile spread across Kai's face. "As logical as always," he said, making sure to keep his drenched suit arms off the armrests as he sat down on the curtained chair. Heck, I'd used those drapes so many times to keep that chair and the rest of my furniture from getting wrecked I was surprised they weren't growing mold.

* * *

I took my brogued feet off my desk and leaned forward, my fedora tilting at a rakish angle on my head. "Let's cut to the chase, Kai. What's wrong?"

"How do you know something's wrong?" Kai shot back.

I rolled my eyes. "I happen to notice things, Mr. Smith," I retorted. "One such thing is that, you being the hydrophobic, yet mysterious hydrated being you are, you wouldn't go out in this weather in an escort of armored tanks. And here you are, soaking wet and dripping all over my carpet, without even the decency of having been sheltered by an umbrella, or at the very least, a raincoat. The other such thing is that people don't come to me unless there's something wrong, unless they want to chat. And judging by what I just said, you're not here to small-talk." I folded my arms across my chest. "And neither am I. Is that enough for you, or would you like me to phone my lawyer and have him present a case on the matter?"

Kai put his hands up in surrender, careful to keep them over his waterlogged suit. "I'm not completely hydrophobic, you know that," he said, but he sounded begrudgingly impressed. "And no, a lawyer isn't necessary."

"Speaking of noticing things," I glanced somewhat hopefully around Kai, "I've also noticed that your, permit me, lovely younger sister isn't here."

"That's what I came to talk to you about," Kai said, apprehensively folding and unfolding his hands, knuckles white with stress. "Nya's gone missing."

I spat my coffee right onto one of my brand-new record books, but at the minute, I wouldn't have given a darn if it had hit the president of the United States in the face. I was about to scream, "She's _**what?!**_ ", but instead, I tried to keep my voice level as I asked, "What do you mean, 'she's gone missing'?"

"I think she's been kidnapped." Kai ran his hands through his spiky brown hair with fierce anxiety. "I haven't seen her for three days, and the police have no way to find her."

" _You should have come to me first!_ " I wanted to yell, but I vented my loosely-hidden panic on my necktie instead. "When did you last see her?" I asked, tugging my tie while at the same time pushing my fedora up out of my eyes.

"She was on her way to her job at the Buccaneer Cabana," Kai said, his brow furrowing with distaste. "Not my first choice of a career for her, but it was the best-paying job she could find on short notice."

I scowled. "Isn't that the club run by Captain N?"

Captain N was . . . well, let's just say he wasn't anywhere close to becoming my Buddy of the Week. He and his scurvy robber crew would have gotten away with a good deal of crimes that were best left unattempted if it wasn't for my private eye snooping. The ol' cap'n weaseled his way out of a cell in Kryptarium by claiming to be reformed, and had been permitted to open up the Buccaneer Cabana, which quickly became the most popular hangout in Ninjago City, its patrons fluctuating from the elite and VIPs to the lowest street scum. I acted as unofficial probation officer, not trusting Captain N with such a delicate matter such as reformation. The whole thing was a baloney act to me.

"That's the one," Kai confirmed. "But before Nya disappeared, a piece of paper slipped out of her coat pocket." He produced a small plastic bag with a folded scrap of notepaper sealed inside out of his pocket.

"Smart move," I commented, taking the bag and unsealing it. I unfolded the piece of paper. It was inscribed with a scribbled address. "72 Donovan Boulevard," I read, scowl deepening. "If I recall correctly, the Buccaneer Cabana is on 89 Gypsy Avenue. This address is almost all the way across town from there."

"Why would she have that address?" Kai asked, frowning. "She never goes to that part of town, so far as I know."

"That's what I'm gonna find out." I stood up, pushing my chair back as I headed for the door. I handed Kai my umbrella and raincoat, assuring him I'd manage a little rain as I pulled on my tan trench coat.

"You're gonna find my sister, right?" Kai asked fearfully.

I nodded curtly. "This isn't just a matter of someone going missing," I said. "This is a matter of the heart. I'll find Nya if it's the last thing I do. I swear it."


	11. Dial N For Ninja (Part 2)

**Stats: Chapter 10**

 **Reason For Being Here: Chapter 7**

* * *

 **2\. Not a Stop At Your Neighborhood Club. . .**

After seeing Kai safely off, I walked down the rain-saturated streets of Ninjago City, pulling my coat collar up around my neck. This was no laughing matter, that's for sure. Nya's life could be hanging in the balance, and I wasn't going to be a heartbroken bystander watching as the tightrope holding her life up snapped.

Unfortunately, I'd visited that reveler's den known as "Buccaneer Cabana" enough so that I could have walked there blindfolded with my feet handcuffed to my elbows, if I was double-jointed or had bones made entirely of rubber. The only two excuses I had to visit that madhouse was to keep an eye on ol' Cap'n N, or to pay my respects to Miss Nya Smith.

It took me only a fifteen minutes' walk through the downpour to the Cabana. It looked pretty swanky for being a hangout of the psycho and foolhardy. Neon lights, plush velvet carpet in the entrance, and enough windows to supply an opthamologist's clientele with sunglasses for a good half-millennium. The place was brighter than Elvis Presley in an LED-infused suit on New Year's Eve at Times Square, and I was at high risk of winning a one-way ticket to Blindburg, or at least to its nearby neighbor, Glassesville.

As I approached the glass double-doors, I was stopped by two burly doormen with biceps like sausages on steroids. "Hey, kiddo," one grunted. "You gots t'have a pass to come in here."

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Looks like ol' Cap'n upped his security around here," I remarked calmly. I'd never seen these two circus strongmen rejects before, and pass or not, I was gonna show these bozos not to mess with a man on a mission, no matter how young he was.

"Besides, you're too young to get a pass anyway," the other smirked. "Move along, half-pint, your mama's calling."

"For your information, my mom calls me on the weekends, I'm within the legal age for entry to this madhouse, and I regret to say that 'half-pint' has some business here, pass or not," I responded curtly, dipping my hand into my breast pocket and flourishing my badge. "I'm Jay Walker, private detective, and probation officer for your boss, Nadakhan Django. If I were you, I'd avoid getting in my way, or you'll end up in an unwanted fling with the Lady of the Law."

The doorman who had first spoken glanced nervously at his partner. "He's a police officer, Squiffy," he hissed. "And if he's got business with the boss―"

"Aw, don't be such a sissy, Bucko," the one who had dubbed me 'half-pint' replied snarkily. "How could this _kid_ be a gumshoe, and a probatin' one at that?"

"Hey pal, this _gumshoe_ has connections," I retorted, tucking my badge back into my pocket. "One of them is a hotline to Captain Z. Julien of the NNCP, head of the infamous 'Nindroid' squadron. My friend Zane hasn't lost a single fight, and he's dealt with baddies tougher than you clowns on his day off."

While Bucko was cracking faster than the San Andreas faultline, Squiffy remained impassive. "So you're chums with a police captain, big deal," he sneered. "What's another connection that should make me shake in my boots?"

"A lady friend of mine who goes by the name of Wisp," I replied, holding my ground and my glare at the doorman. "She gets quicker to the point than a college professor on a half-day of class, and if she doesn't like you, she dismisses you with the crack of a switch."

"Oh yeah? Then why doncha introduce me to this Wisp woman?" Squiffy mocked, still not convinced. "I'll bet she's quite the babe to be dating a gumshoe like you."

"Happy to." I reached into the gun holster concealed under my coat and pointed the muzzle of my firearm right at the doorman's blood-pumper. Ah, every detective should hang out with one of these antique dolls. To heck with .38's and 33-calibers, just set yourself up with an Old West six-shooter and you've got a date with a lovely girl named success.

Squiffy took a step back, genuinely surprised by the pistol now aimed at his chest. "Hey, kid, I thought you said Wisp was your girlfriend! What's with the gun?"

"Ah, I never said Wisp was a warm-blooded human female, did I?" I replied, smirking. "Wisp is the hottest gun this side of the Ignacia River, and trust me, I don't think you'd wanna steal a kiss or two from _this_ lady. Wonder why I call her Wisp?"

Squiffy scowled and shook his head. "That's all she leaves behind when she's done with you," I said, slowly clicking the trigger into ready position to fire. "So I recommend you let me pass, or get a taste of bullet heartburn."

"Let him through, Squiffy!" Bucko hissed in a panic. "He's got a gun!"

"Yeah, _Squiffy_ ," I grinned. "Listen to Bucko. I never miss whatever I've got my sights on, and right now, my sights are right on that hardened casing you call your heart."

Squiffy hesitated, then finally stepped aside. "Boss isn't here anyway," he muttered as I walked past. Then I caught a rather obscene curse against me, and I decided to take care of this dunderhead like I should have at first.

He never swore again.

I casually blew the smoke off Wisp's muzzle as I kicked the body aside. Turning to Bucko, whose knees were knocking up a thunderstorm worse than the racket already going on, I said calmly, "Be sure to clean that up, and give your boss my deepest condolences about Squiffy." Then, pocketing my firearm, I walked through the double-doors and into the club known as the Buccaneer Cabana.


	12. Dial N For Ninja (Unfinished Scenes)

**Since I probably won't come back to this any time soon, I guess it would be okay for me to put the unfinished parts of _Dial "N" For Ninja_ here.**

 **Sorry if they're disjointed, they _are_ "deleted scenes", after all. I'll try to fill in the gaps in between scenes.**

* * *

 **(takes place directly after Chapter 2: originally part of Chapter 2)**

Appearances can be deceptive. A glance at the front of the Cabana would have suggested to a passerby that it was a classy gentlemen's club, favorite of NNC's high class society folk, ranging from Broadway stars to billionaire heirs and heiresses.

But once you had one foot past its double-doors and most likely on a wad of chewing tobacco, you'd see it for the pirate's madhouse it really was.

Styled off a classic 1700's sailor's tavern, the Cabana had the same rustic charm and salty atmosphere that would have made any wayward corsair feel right at home. The air reeked with the smoke of tobacco and the mist of strong ale, with loud uncensored cussing and drunken hoots being the most common topics of conversation. No friendly discussions about the weather in _this_ bar. . . If the Buccaneer Cabana was a movie, I'd rate it major PG-13, maybe even R on a particularly bad day.

Steering clear of the more rowdy patrons, I maneuvered through the maze of tables, feeling strangely like a modern-day Theseus in a labyrinth full of intoxicated Minotaurs. The only thing I was missing was an Ariadne leading me out, but I hoped to change that when I reached the wooden countertop of the bar.

Sitting down at the end of the bar, I was almost immediately cornered by a waitress-type gal. I would have said barmaid, but that would have been dating myself. And as much as I like me, I wouldn't want to date myself. That's more egotistical that Narcissus. (What is up with me and these mythology metaphors?) "Hey there, handsome," she flashed a blinding smile at me, reaching over the bar to touch my hand. "Something I can get for you?"

"A sedative would be handy about now, but I know for a fact you don't carry those," I answered curtly, avoiding her hand.

* * *

 **Jay gets a tip-off from a source at the Cabana, which eventually leads him to, of all places, what looks like a closed salon building. Upon further investigation, he discovers that another source is waiting for him there.**

* * *

"Oh yes, Delara will be here shortly," the resident desk blonde assured me, flashing another steroid smile. "Why don't you sit down and I'll fetch her for you?"

"Thanks," I replied.

But before I could turn to find a seat in the lobby area, she quickly caught the back of my coat collar. "Oh, no-no- _no_ , I didn't mean _there_ ," she explained, still smiling. "The chairs in our waiting area are just _awful_. You look like you could use a nice, _comfortable_ place to sit." As she spoke, she guided me to one of the vacant leather brown old-fashioned barber chairs in front of a mirror with enough lights to decorate a good-sized Christmas tree or two.

Before I could argue that the chairs in the waiting area looked like they had just been unpacked, she had sat me down and handed me a copy of _The NC Times_. "Now, you just wait here, and I'll get Delara," she said sweetly before hurrying off.

Sighing longsufferingly, I unfolded the newspaper, figuring now would be as good a time as any to catch up on the news. I was in no way looking forward to seeing Delara again, especially since she was the one who had tangled me up in a fiasco with Captain N a few years back, when I had just become a private eye.

I had just reached the end of the front page when I felt a pair of cold, long-nailed hands rest on my shoulders, lightly stroking my shoulder-length ginger hair. "Fancy meeting _you_ here, handsome," purred a familiar exotically-accented female voice. Delara's glossy tones always made my cheeks flare up in an involuntary blush, and it drove me to near insanity. She was the only other person besides Nya who could easily strip off my hardened exterior and expose my actual feelings, no matter how well I hid them.

As a matter of fact, she looked a lot like my sweetheart: the same mesmerizing almond-shaped amber eyes, slender build, and silky raven tresses. The few differences were that Delara wore her hair longer than Nya's of late, and had the unmistakable red-painted claws, although once you couldn't tell them apart.

"Unfortunately, this is several hundred million years sooner than I wanted to see you again, Miss Williams," I responded coldly, neatly folding up the newspaper and tossing it aside, keeping one hand protectively over my concealed gun.

"Oh, don't be like that, darling," Delara pouted. "Is that any way to talk to your former girlfriend?"

"My two-timing criminal former girlfriend, yes," was my retort. Despite my response, she was still stroking my hair in an amorous manner now reserved only for Nya to do.

"You're still unhappy about that?" Delara pretended to look surprised. "You know I had no choice, honey. And I gave up the criminal life long ago." She undid my coat and slipped it off my shoulders, leaving me feeling uncomfortably vulnerable as she hung it up on a vacant hanger. "We could always try again, you know," she said softly, stroking my cheek with one hand as she discreetly slid Wisp free from my holster. "I miss you, James."

"Like you missed your high school exams," I replied crossly, inwardly flinching at her use of my rightful first name. "And like I told you before, it's too late to go back.

* * *

 **After Delara supplies Jay with the information he needs, including another address, Jay follows up on the lead.**

* * *

As I rounded a corner, I muttered the new address aloud to myself, preparing to tear up the scrap of paper Delara had given to me once I had memorized the address.

" _11 Dockto_ ―" Before I could finish my sentence, a hand the size of a baseball glove clamped over my mouth, stifling my startled yell as I was dragged backwards into an alley more musty than my mom's attic.

"You're not going anywhere, gumshoe," a gruff female voice growled, wrapping her other arm around my waist to contain my struggling. Then she opened her mitt and pressed a damp handkerchief over my nose, knocking my lights out as soon as I was forced to inhale the chloroform's fumes.

When I came to, I found myself in a chair far less comfortable than the one I had been sitting in several . . . hours ago? I had no idea how long I'd been out.

My wrists were tied behind the chair back in an excruciatingly uncomfortable position. I felt like my arms, now tightly roped to my sides, were slowly dislocating, and since my thighs were tied to the seat and my shins bound to the chair legs, they felt no better. Only one criminal mastermind was this strategic with his knots. . .

" _Nadakhan_ ," I said coldly, and my archnemesis stepped out of the shadows, a triumphant smirk curling his mustached lip.

With a silver hook for a hand and his slick black hair pulled back in a ponytail, "Captain N" Nadakhan Django was a ruthless pirate swashbuckling out any author's imagination or a boyhood dream. He was a real life Captain Jaz. Hook, from his red and green pirate's garb to the jagged cutlass pistol hanging carelessly at his side.

"Hello, James," he sneered, coming closer to me, clearly savoring the helpless hatred in my eyes. "Look like the elusive blue jay has been snared. How does it feel, tasting sweet defeat on that witty tongue?"

"It's familiar, just in a new form," I replied, my eyes narrowing in a fierce glare. "I've taken you down before, _captain_ , I'll do it again."

"Ah, but this time you _won't_ , my dear naive boy," Nadakhan purred, lifting my chin with his silver claw, so my blue irises unwillingly met his blood-red ones.

"I've already taken your phone and your gun, so you have no way of fighting back," Nadakhan sneered. "And since this warehouse doesn't even exist in local records, I think I'll leave you here to rot. No one will find you here, but just to make sure. . ."

He swiftly gagged me with a spare bandanna, then stepped back to admire his handiwork. I struggled desperately to twist free of my ropes, but for once, there wasn't a single misknot or loose rope I could use to my advantage. I was well and truly tied up.


	13. Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya) (Part 1)

**Ugh, yet another story shoved down the tubes. . . I'm going to look for an excuse to use this written footage in another story.**

 **For the reason I have to leave this here . . . well, I think you know where to look now.**

* * *

 **Title:** Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya)

 **Summary:** *takes place shortly after Possession - July 2015* Jay's having a hard time with Nya - she's giving him the cold shoulder and he doesn't understand why. He wonders what he should do . . . and the answer to his problem comes from an unlikely source. . .

 **Last Time I Worked On It:** June 22nd, 2017

 **Original Publishing Date:** May 8th, 2017

 **Notes:** this was originally a challenge from a dear friend of mine - JayFan67 - who is, sadly, no longer on FanFiction. The challenge was a self-insertXJay story.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Sensei Wu Show/The Psychiatrist: Sensei Wu**

"Excellent work, my students!" Sensei Wu surveyed his young Ninja with satisfaction. "You're all in fine form―although a certain Master of Lightning could do better by concentrating on his technique and _not_ concentrating on another teammate."

Jay blushed as Nya glared at him, hurriedly looking away as his familiars snickered at his misfortune. "In order for you to improve your focus, Jay, you will have to come and train with me privately before your regular exercises with your teammates," Wu continued, slightly stern.

"What?! _Sensei_!" Jay protested, but one glance from his teacher made him falter. " _Hai, sensei_ ," he mumbled, shamefacedly looking at his boots.

"Good. _Ninja_ , you are dismissed."

" _Hai, sensei_!" the Ninja chorused, then they dispersed across the _Destiny's Bounty_. Lloyd went up to the bridge to rendezvous with his mother, Cole and Zane set up a game of mini-droid chess on the gundeck, Kai went belowdecks to play _Sitar Legend 2015_ , and Nya remained on the training course to further practice her Water powers.

Jay tried to sneak belowdecks as well, but Sensei Wu stopped him before he could escape. "I believe we should have a little discussion about your additional focus training, Jay," he said, gentle, but firm. "Let us go to my quarters."

Jay glanced helplessly in Cole and Zane's direction, but they were too engrossed in their chess game to notice. And as for Nya, she pointedly avoided his desperate gaze.

* * *

The two walked in silence down to Wu's quarters. Sliding the door closed behind Jay, Wu beckoned for him to kneel down on one of the cushions on the floor.

"Jay, do not think that this focus training is a punishment," said the sensei, pouring tea into two cups, offering one to his student. "I want this to be beneficial to you―not only in combat, but in your personal life as well. I can sense you are deeply troubled―and it's affecting your ability to concentrate."

Jay took a tentative sip of the tea. The herbal drink was strangely soothing to him, the jasmine scent calming him as it mixed with the scent of the incense sticks smoking on a nearby tea table. _No wonder Sensei's so calm all the time,_ he thought, glancing up into his teacher's kind gray eyes. _Maybe that whole tea thing isn't as weird as it sounds._

"This shall be our first, preliminary training session," said Wu. "There will be no physical exercises―just you and I having a conversation. Tell me what's on your mind."

Jay hesitated. The _sensei_ bent over and placed a comforting hand on his pupil's shoulder. "Do not worry, Jay," he said softly. "I will not tell anyone―excepting Misako―what you tell me now, unless it is absolutely necessary. You have my solemn promise on that."

The young warrior relaxed. He knew that Wu's word was as true as silver. "It's about―"

He faltered, eyes resting on the framed photograph hanging on the wall. It was a picture of the team, taken shortly after the defeat of the Preeminent. In the photo, Jay had his arm around Nya―as this was before her unusual change of behavior towards him.

"It's about Nya," Wu finished quietly. "That much I already knew. You still have feelings for her?"

"Feelings? More like full-fledged tidal waves of them." Jay absently stirred his finger in his tea, dragging his eyes away from the picture and fixing them back on his teacher.

"I know how you feel, Jay―I too was a victim of a love triangle," the _sensei_ reminded him.

Jay's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh yeah―you and Garmadon were fighting over Misako, right?"

"Well, we weren't fighting like you and Cole were―but we were competing for Misako's affections, yes," Wu's eyes crinkled into a small smile. "It seems rather silly now―but I don't think it feels that way to you, does it?"

"No way. I know Cole thinks it was silly, but he stopped fighting after he realized what it was doing to our friendship." Jay scowled a little. "Always the noble one." Then he laughed weakly. "Sometimes it's annoying to have a guy like Cole for a best friend."

"But I _can_ tell you're happy to have him as your best friend―I've seen you two talking and laughing when you have the chance," Wu commented. "You do not hold it against him that you two were once at odds?"

"Not at all―it wasn't his fault; he had no idea, and honestly, I don't really think he wanted her that badly to begin with." Jay sighed. "If only Nya were as easy to read as Cole. . ."

"Women―especially girls as young as Nya―can be hard to figure out. They often have unspoken expectations that, when unanswered, can result with a sort of resentment that confuses the man expected to meet those unspoken desires. Do you feel that from Nya?"

"No―it's beyond resentment." Jay's eyes welled up with tears. "I feel like . . . like Nya hates me. Whenever I look at her, even on accident, she glares at me, and whenever I try to have a civil conversation with her, she either ignores me or shuts me down."

Sensei Wu frowned. "Has she been paying especial attention towards Cole as of late?"

"No―she acts normally around him." Jay hung his head. "That's the weird part. If she were playing favorites with him, I'd get the cold shoulder behavior. But she treats him like she's always done before that whole _Perfect Match_ fiasco."

The _sensei's_ brow furrowed more deeply. "That is most unusual." He remained in deep thought for several minutes. Jay shifted uncomfortably in his seat, swiping the tears from his eyes.

But before Wu could return back to his anxious student, Misako peered into the room. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Wu, Jay, but Commissioner Noble is on the bridge―he says he has a mission for us."


	14. Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya) Part 2

**See previous chapters for various bits of information pertaining to this plot.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Whodoinit?**

Lloyd was already speaking to Commissioner Noble when Wu, Misako, and Jay arrived on the bridge. Not to be confused with his younger brother, Warden Allan Noble, head of security at Kryptarium Prison, Commissioner Angus Noble was as well-seasoned an officer as his brother. He had an imposing bushy gray mustache, and a rather peculiar eye disorder that caused his left eyelid to flicker in times of stress. But this fifty-year timer on the Ninjago City Police force kept a certain amount of calm that, despite that one minor tic, impressed his position on both civil-minded citizens and those denizens who were less so.

"Commissioner," Sensei Wu inclined his head to the officer. "I hope this visit is a relatively pleasant one."

"I hope so, Wu," Noble replied, tilting his hat brim out of his eyes.

"Can you catch them up, Commissioner?" Lloyd asked.

"We've been tracking the activities of a―er, _vandal_ , for the past couple of months," said Commissioner Noble.

Zane frowned. "If you'll excuse me, Commissioner, I am still slightly confused as to your hesitation in naming the perpetrator a vandal."

"Because―well, she doesn't _seem_ to do any real damage," Noble confessed, fiddling with his bushy mustache.

" _She?_ " Wu looked at him curiously.

"The offender is a teenage girl, about seventeen or eighteen," the officer explained. "In normal cases, we would have brought her in and most likely she would have been sentenced to some time in juvenile hall, as she hasn't stopped her activities on her own. But . . . there's something about her that made me want to investigate her further."

"Do you know who she is exactly?" Kai asked, mildly impatient.

"Unfortunately, no. She wears an outfit in a similar fashion to yours―except I think she's not really going for stealth, as it's mainly white, while yours are mainly black." The Ninja had only recently earned their Airjitzu suits, and Nya was yet to earn hers, so they were surprised to hear that this teenager was able to know what they looked like. "She always keeps a mask pulled down over her face, and all the security camera footage we have is facing her back, so we don't even know what she looks like. The only way we figured out she was a girl was the way she's built."

Noble shook his head. "Anyway, she's been painting on public buildings past minor's curfew―usually deserted tenement housing, or on unused train cars down at the abandoned trainyard. But it's not normal vandalism―she doesn't use spray paint, and her art isn't vulgar or lewd. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to call her works masterpieces. In a matter of hours, she can turn an old brick wall into such a vivid picture that it looks like a photograph of the real thing."

"What does she paint?" The artistically-inclined Ninja, Cole, was significantly more interested in the conversation than he was earlier.

"To be straightforward, she paints you―you Ninja and your different exploits." The Commissioner fingered his mustache again. "That's why I thought I ought to bring it to your attention before taking further action. My impression of her is that she may be trying to follow your footsteps, but is slightly disillusioned in the way to go."

The Ninja exchanged looks. Their latest daring deed, saving Ninjago from becoming cursed by the Preeminent, had won them an unexpected wave of fame―and with it came a whole hurricane of crazed fangirls. The last thing they wanted was to deal with one of those insane girls. "Well, it sounds like she's been doing some damage―painting on public places without permission, right?" said Lloyd finally.

"And past curfew," Cole added.

"I would agree with you―except for one thing that she does when she finishes a painting." Noble sighed. "I hate to say it, and I don't even know how she does it―but when she completes her work, she takes a photo of it with her smartphone, then she sprays it with something in an aerosol can. Whatever's in that thing makes the painting disappear faster than you can blink."

"So the only evidence you could get to convict her would be on her phone, and you have no way of getting it," the Green Ninja realized. "That's pretty clever."

"And if that girl invented invisibility spray before I did, I'm seriously gonna electrocute her!" Jay yelled. "I've been working for months to figure out how to do that!"

"Be quiet, Jay, we have other things to worry about," Nya snapped. Her cold tone made Jay cringe, but he kept quiet. Kai shot his sister a slightly hard look, but she ignored him, now speaking to the Commissioner. "Do you notice any other patterns she has in where she strikes?"

"She never uses the same surface twice, and she always goes to places where her canvas is unused―most likely so she won't be accused of defacing public property to a severe degree." The Commissioner's mustache twitched. "Do you have any ideas of a course of action to take?"

Zane, who had been quickly calculating a plan in his head, spoke up. "We will need a list of the locations she has already visited, and of the ones where she may next target. How often does she embark on these late-night escapades?"

"Usually twice a week―on Mondays and Saturdays. She's also very punctual about when she starts and finishes―she arrives at her 'canvas' at exactly ten p.m. and cleans up at exactly two a.m." He placed his finger on his wrinkled cheek. "And I'll have my men compile that list for you asap. It should be done in time for some sort of action to be taken tonight, or at the least, tomorrow night." Noble detached his walkie-talkie from his belt and, excusing himself, went on deck to give his men the order.

"The sooner the better," said Lloyd, turning back to the team. "I'm actually pretty curious about who this mystery girl is. I'm just praying that she's not a rabid fangirl."

"Y'know, I get the feeling that she's not," Jay finally spoke.

Nya shot him a glare. "And when did _you_ become such a good judge of character?"

Jay bit back an insult. Ignoring her, fighting the beginning moisture of tears, he turned to Zane. "What's the rest of your plan? Please tell me it involves some midnight sneaking around―I haven't gotten enough of that lately."

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that 'midnight sneaking around' will play a crucial role in the succeeding of this plan," the Nindroid replied.

"Um . . . I was being sarcastic." Jay yawned loudly, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth at the icy look on Nya's face. "I haven't been getting enough sleep lately."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow night―"

"No, it's okay, Zane," Jay assured his teammate. "I'm not likely to get a lot of sleep tonight anyway. Better to pull an all-nighter now than later, right?"

Wu looked at his blue-clad student. _Oh, that poor boy,_ he thought. Jay looked absolutely exhausted―black bags under his bloodshot blue eyes; usually confident stance exchanged for a tired, sagging posture, arms hanging at his sides and his back slightly bent; and a faint shadow of his eternally cheerful smile trying to inch across his face. The last thing the barely twenty-year-old needed was to overwork himself, and now more than ever Wu was certain that his decision to disguise counseling sessions under the label of "focus training" was the right choice to make.

"Jay, you'll do no such thing," said the _sensei_ , placing his hands on Jay's slumped shoulders. _So stressed,_ Wu worried, feeling the painful tension in Jay's muscles. "You need to rest."

Jay smiled weakly at his teacher. "I'm okay, _sensei,_ really. Just let me go on this mission, and I'll do whatever you want tomorrow, 'kay?"

 _So stubborn_ ― _just like Jay to do this_ , Wu sighed inwardly. But he knew Jay would have it no other way. "All right―it's against my better judgement, but I suppose one more night won't hurt. Please, continue, Zane."

"Here's what I have in mind. . ."


	15. Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya) (Part 3)

**Here I present to thee the unfinished remains of what was intended to be Chapter 3 of the ill-fated _Who Knew? (Fallin' For Ya_ ).**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Girl with the Pearl Paintbrush**

" _Testing, testing―ichi, ni, san_ ― _Field Team Two, can you hear me?_ "

"We hear you loud and clear, Zane!" Cole spoke into his wrist communicator. "Although you could have just said 'one, two, three.'"

" _Connection secured_ ― _we can hear you, Cole. And it's healthy to maintain a knowledge of one's country's mother language. Jay_ ― _please respond. Jay?_ "

"JAY!" Cole elbowed his friend in the side.

"I'm not late for school, Mom!" Jay yelped, eyes flying open. He had fallen asleep, much to Cole's increasing uneasiness. Jay looked absolutely _awful_ ―even worse than he had that afternoon.

" _We can hear you, Jay._ " Cole could hear the wince in Zane's voice―clearly he heard him a little _too_ well. " _You don't have to hold to this particular task, Jay. I can send Sensei to pick you up and take you back to the_ _ **Bounty**_ ― _you do not sound especially well_."

"I'm gonna follow through on this," Jay answered. "I signed up for this―and I'm gonna hold up my end of the . . . * _yaaawn_ * deal. . ." He almost fell asleep again, but he forced himself to sit bolt upright, as if a straighter posture would keep himself awake and alert.

Cole could hear Zane sigh on the other end of the line. " _If you're sure._ "

* * *

Cole guessed that when Zane had laid out his plan, he had expected Jay to choose to stay behind at the police station with him and Sensei Wu, but the young Master of Lightning immediately requested to be paired with Cole on the second field team. Sensei Wu had tried to talk him out of the idea, but Jay stubbornly stuck to his guns, and the teacher, much against his better judgement, gave in. _Jay will have to learn not to put so much pressure on himself_ , he had thought, silently watching his second-youngest student practice his nunchuk technique on the indoor training course. After half-an-hour of fierce training, Jay tripped over his own feet and fell down, exhausted, and, upon closer inspection, Wu realized that he had bruised himself more than he had bruised the training bots.

This time, Jay did not protest when his teacher helped him off the course and tended to his self-inflicted injuries. Then, Wu tried to gently persuade him to trade places with Lloyd, who had chosen to stay behind with Zane, in favor of Kai and Nya serving as the first field team. Jay refused to change his mind, and so, when it came time for the team to split up at the police station and put their plan into action, Jay had gone with Cole to their assigned hiding place―a deserted tenement apartment on the outskirts of the city, while Kai and Nya were staked out at the abandoned trainyard.

* * *

Cole glanced at his wrist communicator. Disguised as a watch, it flashed the current time at him: 9:57 p.m. He and Jay had been watching and waiting for the mystery painter to hopefully show up for almost an hour, and Jay had fallen asleep a total of ten times during that span of time. The tenth time, half a second after he had checked his watch, Cole had pulled off Jay's hood and felt his forehead. "My gosh, Jay, you're burning up worse than Kai on a hot day!" he hissed. "I'm gonna radio up Zane and ask him to send Sensei over―you're going back to the _Bounty_."

Just then, there was the soft sound of footsteps coming their direction. Swallowing an exclamation of annoyance, Cole dragged Jay back into their hiding place―an alley with a clear view of the west wall of the building―and quickly radioed in to Zane. "Field Team Two calling in―objective may be coming this way. Standing by."

" _We copy, Field Team Two. Stand by, but do not report back to us until objective shows signs of leaving._ "

"Understood. Over and out." Clicking his communicator off, Cole tentatively peeked over the edge of the alley.

A slender figure was standing in front of the west wall of the building, clad in a long black satin cloak that shone in the light of the full moon. The cloak's hood was drawn back to reveal a cyan and white layered ninja mask. As the figure bent down, Cole caught a glimpse of a royal blue carpet bag which the mysterious visitor set on the ground. Then, there was a soft _click_ , and the figure drew her―Cole was certain now that it was a girl―cloak off and spread it out on the ground, satin side down; the underside of the cape was splattered with multi-colored paint stains.

As the girl knelt down and undid the latches of the carpet bag, Cole could see that she was indeed wearing a uniform styled in an identical fashion to their Airjitzu gi―the dual-colored hood, the single shoulder pauldron strapped to the left arm―every aspect of the tunic, from the layers of the hood to the knee ties, was dutifully and expertly replicated in this design. The only real differences in the uniform was the color scheme. Replacing the black was a pure alabaster white, and the gold clasps and shoulder pauldron were silver. Where an individual color was allowed, she chose the vibrant cyan blue which Cole had first seen on her hood. Her knee high boots were also white, but they were tipped with silver.

She reached into her carpet bag and took out a paintbrush, and Cole couldn't resist a low whistle of appreciation. _Solid mother of pearl handle, and by the looks of it, fangfish whisker brush_ , he thought. _This gal means business_.

The girl glanced around cautiously. Cole caught a glimpse of bright green eyes framed by her mask. Then, satisfied that no one was there, the girl reached back into her bag and took out several gallon cans of paint. They looked brand-new, but Cole wondered. . .

Once she was set up, the girl took the lid off one of the cans of paint, and dipped her paintbrush into it. She then turned to the wall, and drew a square in the air. Her demeanor was slightly hesitant, as if she wasn't entirely sure of what she was doing. Cole was slightly confused: why wasn't she painting directly on the wall? Then his eyes widened in surprise.

The white square she had drawn in the air was now in the exact same place―but on the wall―and it was completely filled in. She had turned the wall into a literal blank canvas. _Sheesh, Jay was right_ , Cole thought, blinking as the girl dipped her paintbrush into another paint can, _there's seriously more to this girl than we thought_.

* * *

The next few hours went by in almost a blur. Cole watched as the girl expertly swept and maneuvered the paintbrush through the air, stopping only to switch paint colors, and even the dips of the brush into the cans were artfully executed. And slowly, but surely, an image started to appear on the wall. As she moved her hand gracefully through the air, the girl's painting was becoming clearer. It was a representation of the Ultimate Battle, masterfully and disturbingly accurate to the true event.


	16. Agents of Dragon: The Elemental Soldiers

**Oh boy, yet another story to toss into the scrap heap of abandoned dreams. Sorry about this.**

* * *

 **Title:** Agents of D.R.A.G.O.N.: Serpent's Bite vs. Dragon's Fire/The Elemental Soldiers

Summary: (Marvel-type AU) Lloyd Garmadon has to foil the schemes of a biological terrorist called the Overlord - and he's the very man who corrupted his father ten years ago. He's joined up by a band of misfit D.R.A.G.O.N. agents with . . . unusual powers. They are determined to prove themselves heroes, and Lloyd is determined to avenge his father. Together, they are the Elemental Soldiers.

 **Last Time I Worked On This:** December 2nd, 2017

 **Original Publishing Date:** March 5th, 2016

 **Notes:** I don't think I have anything to add for this one. It's kind of straight-forward.

* * *

 **Log 0.01: Right Before My Eyes**

( _ten years ago_ )

Agent Monty Garmadon, codename "Lord", pressed himself up against the brick wall. "Keep quiet, Scribe," he said in an undertone. "The truck's coming in our direction."

Agent Misako "Scribe" Garmadon squeezed her husband's arm nervously. "Are you sure it's from Dark Serpent?" she whispered anxiously.

"It's not what I think matters, Scribe," Monty said quietly. "Primal has a lead on Dark Serpent Activity, and this is where it ended up: a deserted shipyard, with a lone truck with the same symbol we found on those crates on that infiltrated shipment from Dark Serpent."

Misako shivered, wrapping and unwrapping her dark braid around her hand. "I don't like this," she murmured. "It seems too easy. This could be a trap."

Monty put an arm reassuringly around his wife. "If it is, we'll be prepared," he said.

"It's not us I'm worried about, Monty." Misako shivered again as a gust of cold wind whipped the two agents as it went by. "If we die, who'll protect Lloyd?"

"You don't trust Wu?" Monty's brow furrowed into a slight scowl.

"No, no, of course I trust him!" Misako protested in a whisper. "It's just . . . even though Lloyd's ten years old, he's still so vulnerable to attack."

"With my brother and my father in charge?" Monty raised a dark eyebrow. "Lloyd's more protected than any of the most important agents in D.R.A.G.O.N.. He's the agency's most defended secret. He's safe from any Dark Serpent influence . . . or harm."

"I wish I had your trust," Misako murmured.

Monty squeezed her arm. "More like faith, Misako," he gently corrected her.

Misako smiled weakly. "You're right, of course." She tugged on his sleeve. "Shouldn't we be keeping an eye on that truck?"

"Right," Monty muttered. His bold green eyes were barely visible beyond the edge of the wall, his anti-mirror super-strength sunglasses allowing him to look right into the glaring headlights of the Dark Serpent truck without flinching.

Lifting his radio wristwatch up to his mouth, he said quietly, "Agents Lord and Scribe requesting immediate hookup to Primal, directive Alpha Ouroboros."

"Lord and Scribe, this is Primal." The familiar deep voice of Monty's father, the First Spinjitzu Master and head of D.R.A.G.O.N., sounded from the deeply muffled watch.

"We're in Sector 7-82, Zone 5, Primal," Misako reported. "The directive is coming our way. We'll call in everything we find."

"Copy that, Scribe. And, Monty, Misako . . . be careful."

"We will, Dad," Monty promised. "10-4." He shut the radio off.

"Quick, hide!" Seizing Misako's wrist, Monty dove behind a tall pile of crates as the truck rumbled into the dockyard.

"We can't keep hiding like this for long!" Misako hissed. "We're not here for a game of hide and seek!"

"Then how about a game of cat and mouse?" Monty suggested coyly.

"That depends on who's the cat, and who's the mouse," Misako replied.

"Why, I believe that you two are the mice!"

The two agents whirled around, reaching for silver-blasters that were no longer there.

Skales, one of Dark Serpent's leaders, cackled with delight at the startled agents. He was one of the four Serpentine Generals who, under the command of first Pythor the Anacondrai General, then under a mysterious terrorist called simply "the Overlord", founded Dark Serpent.

* * *

The Serpentine resembled humanoid snakes, and they were the powerful and dangerous products of experimental serums tested on previously harmless snakes, developed by the predecessors of Dark Serpent: a group of biological terrorists known as the Skulkin. The five different serums resulted with the five tribes, each gifted with a special weapon only fellow snakes injected with the same serum shared.

Skales was the General of the blue-and-white-scaled Hypnobrai, who were granted the power of hypnosis. The red-and-white-scaled Fangpyre had a poisonous bite that mutated the genetic codes and programming of both living and nonliving things, thus turning them into snakes. The green-and-yellow-scaled Venomari's venom, when spat into the eyes of their foes, caused hallucinations of the victim's worst fear. The black-gray-and-orange-scaled Constrictai had a suffocating squeeze, and could tunnel through nearly any solid substance.

The Anacondrai serum was so powerful that after one injection, the vial of serum exploded. So there is only one Anacondrai, a cunning purple-and-white-scaled Serpentine named Pythor. The unofficial leader of the five tribes, he could swallow a man whole without flinching. But unfortunately for him, he was swallowed himself by another mutation, a grossly enlarged snake christened "the Great Devourer" for its ravenous appetite.

Dark Serpent almost conquered Ninjago with this gargantuan beast, but Agent Monty Garmadon slew the Devourer and D.R.A.G.O.N., now making its second appearance in public, forced the terrorist group back into hiding. Skales, now the second-in-command to the Overlord, still nursed a heavy grudge against Monty, and was delighted to have cornered the elusive agent at last.

* * *

"Well, well, well," he sneered, "what do we have here? Two little children up past their bedtime?" His Serpentine henchmen bellowed with laughter.

"We don't want to fight, Skales," Monty said, betraying no sign of fear or anger. "Let us leave in peace."

"Oh, I don't think so─" a second General, the two-headed Fangpyre chief Fangtom, hissed. He spoke by alternating between his two heads, and his first head left his sentence hanging for its counterpart to finish. "─Agent Monty Garmadon!" the second head finished triumphantly.

A third General, Acidicus of the Venomari, grinned a smile with fangs that dripped green venom at Misako, who cringed inwardly. "And you must be his lovely wife, Agent Misako Garmadon," he purred, his hiss smooth as velvet. "A pleasure to meet the two of you at last."

"Let's just skip the chit-chat, Skales," Monty said, ignoring the other Generals and pulling Misako closer to him. A scowl was fixed on his handsome face. "We're just gonna leave now, and you'll let us go peacefully." He made a small motion with his hand toward Skales' head as he spoke.

The Hypnobrai General burst into raucous laughter. "You really think Jedi mind tricks work, you absurd agent?"

"It was worth a try," Monty shot back, though Misako could tell he was a little disappointed.

The Serpentine circling around the two agents were growing restless, gnashing their fangs and anxiously waiting to spring. The fourth General, Skalidor of the Constrictai, asked, "What should we do with them, Skales?"

"What do _you_ think we should do with them, O Boulder-Brains?" Skales retorted sarcastically. His long tail began to rattle dangerously, a sign that his hypnosis was about to come into effect.

"Look away, Misako!" Monty cried, but it was too late. Misako crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap. "What did you do to her, Skales?!" he yelled, furiously trying to address the smirking General while still avoiding his gaze.

" _I_ didn't do anything," Skales replied innocently. Then, Monty felt a sudden stabbing pain in his right foot, followed by a numbing sensation dancing up his spine. Before he knew it, he too collapsed into an inert form beside his wife.

"Excellent work with the darts, Lasha, Spitta," Acidicus commended the two Venomari.

Instead of giving approval to the two Serpentine, Skales ordered, "Mezmo, Slithraa, bind our two guests and load them into the truck. The Overlord will want to speak with them personally."

* * *

Misako woke to someone gently rocking her awake. "Misako, wake up!"

She blinked groggily and yawned. "What happened?" she murmured sleepily. Then, her forehead seared with sudden pain. "Argh!" She tried to move her hands to feel her forehead, but her arms refused to move.

The pain made her more alert, and she realized she was tied to a chair, her ankles bound to the chair legs and her arms pinned to her sides with black coils of rope. "The headache must be an aftereffect of that knockout serum," a familiar voice from behind her said.

Monty had also been tied up, and the back of his chair pressed against Misako's. "Where are we?" she asked, unable to restrain a note of fear in her voice.

"No idea," Monty replied, sighing. "All I can remember is a pain in my foot where the dart hit me, then I must have passed out."

"Ah, yes, slight memory loss is another minor aftereffect of the Venomari knockout dart." A new voice, dark and sinister, entered the agents' ears.

A tall, thin man, dressed in robes of a gelatinous black and purple substance unknown to science, stood on a hovering platform just above the two captured agents. His face was masked by a obsidian black helmet, but they could see a pair of glowing purple eyes staring back at them, and his yellowing teeth bared in a horrific grin as he gazed down at them from his perch. "So kind of you to join me, agents," he purred, his voice even more sibilant than a Serpentine's. How can a voice be so harsh and raspy, yet so smooth at the same time.

He flicked his hand, and a bright light shone down on Monty and Misako. Forced to blink in the harsh light, Monty glared up at the shadowy figure. " _Overlord_."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Agent Montgomery Garmadon," the Overlord replied coolly.

"I wish I could say the same," Monty growled, voice dripping with sarcasm. "But as we are a little tied up at the moment, I'm in a bit of a hurry to leave."

"Oh, take your time," the Overlord said, and his wicked smile broadened. "Those are Constrictai coil ropes holding you back. If you even _try_ to free yourself, they will tighten until you suffocate. And I don't think that pretty wife of yours would want to die from her husband's struggles."

"Leave Misako out of this," Monty snarled. "It's me you want, isn't it?"

The Overlord looked like he was raising his eyebrows under his helmet, but Monty didn't want to get any closer to find out. The terrorist leader sighed. "Skales mentioned that you were a straight-talker. Too stiff for ordinary conversation with your friendly neighborhood terrorist, hm?"

"Friendly neighborhood terrorist, my eye," Monty said, with a roll of his own emerald irises. "Stop changing the subject and tell us what you want."

The Overlord heaved another sigh. "If you insist." With another flick of his wrist, a series of floating black stairs materialized out of the darkness, and he casually stepped down them until he was just slightly higher than Monty. "Since you D.R.A.G.O.N. agents have forced us underground, we have been very busy. Instating me as the leader was one such step of progress, and another step was taking more of a scientific interest in the venom of the failed mutation, the Devourer."

Monty didn't reveal that D.R.A.G.O.N. had also been analyzing the Devourer's venom, which had yielded some . . . _interesting_ results. "But the crown jewel of our several years in hiding is this." The Overlord took out a vial from under his cloak, which pulsated even more violently with the sudden movement.

The vial, about the same size and shape as a test tube, contained the same gelatinous substance that the Overlord's cloak was made of. The black and purple matter undulated gently, as if it were breathing. The Overlord flicked his free hand a third time, and as if by magic, the two chairs that Monty and Misako were tied to broke away from each other, so both agents, still bound to their separate chairs, could see the substance.

"This is Dark Matter," the Overlord said, not bothering to hide his pride in his creation. "Devourer venom infused with the darkest chemicals known to science. This is, literally, pure, solid evil."

Misako's eyes widened in horror behind her glasses. Monty's expression remained stoic, though Misako could tell he was seething with anger, just by the quick, short breaths he was taking.

"It has made me stronger," the Overlord continued, taking a fold of his cloak and toying with it with long bony fingers. "And as for its corrupting effects . . . well, that remains to be seen. You see, I have only tested Dark Matter upon myself, and it would not affect me."

"Because you're as corrupt as corrupt can get," Monty growled.

"Precisely," the Overlord agreed, yellow fangs bared in a sinister smile. "Being wholly evil, I cannot be corrupted further, which provides a setback for testing its true power." His malevolent violet eyes gleamed with hostile intent as they rested upon Monty. "A setback I need a volunteer to overcome."

He snapped his fingers, and two Constrictai bodyguards entered the room. "Untie Agent Garmadon, and make sure he doesn't escape," he ordered.

One Constrictai sliced the ropes binding Monty away, and the other quickly seized the agent's shoulders. They forced him to his feet, and held him in place, despite Monty's struggles to break their grip.

The Overlord snapped his fingers again, and a Venomari dressed in a spattered lab coat and clear protective lab glasses came in, an empty syringe in one scaly hand. "The syringe, if you please, Dr. Lizaru," the Overlord said, holding out his hand.

Misako cried, "No!" She tried to break free, but the Constrictai ropes coiled more tightly around her chest.

Dr. Lizaru hesitated. Misako's terrified cry and pleading green eyes had brought from the depths of his mind an old memory, one he hadn't thought of since . . .

"The syringe, _Dr. Lizaru_ ," the Overlord repeated, more firmly.

Not looking the Overlord or Misako in the eye, the Venomari scientist handed the terrorist the syringe. Then he stepped back into the shadows, puzzling over this peculiar recollection now jumping about in his reptilian brain.

One of the Constrictai rolled up Monty's right sleeve, leaving his forearm pale and bare in the harsh lamplight. The Overlord approached Monty, the syringe in one hand, and the vial of Dark Matter in the other.

He tipped the contents of the vial into the syringe and sealed it tight. Two more Constrictai held Misako back in her chair as she desperately tried to get up. The Overlord turned his hideous face toward her, and his leering yellow grimace was the most hated thing Misako had seen in her time as a D.R.A.G.O.N. agent. "Watch, my dear," he purred, as one Constrictai tightly gripped Monty's elbow, "and witness the power of Dark Matter, and soon, Dark Serpent."

"You're a monster!" Misako screamed. "A foul, wretched, slimy, wicked _monster_!"

The Overlord merely chuckled at Misako's outburst. "You are quite right, my dear," he concurred, "and since you have summed up my existence so perfectly, I will allow your darling husband to say some last words before my little experiment."

Monty, who had been struggling fiercely against his Constrictai captors for the past three minutes, finally broke free, and ran to his wife, falling to his knees and wrapping his arms around her for what he knew would be the last time. "Whatever happens to me, Misako," he said, in a voice only she could hear, "I'll always love you."

Then, he gently kissed her on the lips. Misako inhaled his fresh, clean scent of spring jasmine as she fervently kissed him back. "I'll always love you, Monty," she replied, tears filling her soft green eyes.

The Constrictai pulled Monty away from Misako, and the Overlord rolled his eyes. "What a touching scene," he said sardonically. "Pity it had to be cut so short."

With that, he took Monty's exposed forearm, and stabbed the syringe needle into it. The Dark Matter flowed through the needle into Monty's bloodstream, and the agent, suddenly drained of energy, fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

" _MONTY!_ " Misako's wail was choked with sobs.

Lying on the ground in front of her, Monty's physical appearance began to change. His windswept dark brown hair deepened to a midnight black. His skin darkened as the pure evil coursed through his veins. The beginnings of two extra arms began to force their way out of his sides.

But his face . . . His ivory teeth pointed into fangs, and dragon-like whiskers began to curve around his mouth. His eyes were the most terrifying change to Misako. No longer a beautiful emerald green, they now glowed blood-red, glittering with malice, hatred, and most of all, untainted evil.

This was no long Monty Garmadon, husband of Misako Organa, father of Lloyd Garmadon, brother of Wu Garmadon, oldest son of the First Spinjitzu Master, and agent of D.R.A.G.O.N. He was, like the Overlord, a monster, bent on evil.

When he spoke, his voice was deeper and more menacing. He stood up, bowing before the Overlord. "What do you want of me, Overlord?" he asked.

The Overlord cackled with villainous delight. "My new second-in-command, _Lord Garmadon_ , I ask nothing of you except that you obey me." His eyes glinted with triumph.

Lord Garmadon's fanged mouth curved into a wicked smile. "I shall, most loyally, Overlord."

Silent tears poured down Misako's face. Her husband had been corrupted, right before her eyes. And she could do nothing to stop it.

* * *

Wu Garmadon paced the main meeting hall of D.R.A.G.O.N. headquarters, desperately trying to communicate to his brother, or sister-in-law. "Agent Staff to Agent Lord, do you copy?" he kept repeating into his radio watch. "Monty? Misako? Are either of you there? Where are you? Do you copy? _Where are you?_ "

He anxiously ran his free hand through his short blond hair. Where in Ninjago could they be? Why hadn't they reported back to headquarters? It was well over three hours since they left, and only an hour ago had Primal sent a search for them. They could be anywhere by now.

Suddenly, another voice came in through Wu's radio watch. "Staff, this is Falcon, do you read me?"

Agent Peregrine "Falcon" Turner was one of the three agents sent to look for Monty and Misako. "I read you, Falcon. What is it?"

"You better come up to the roof, Wu. We're landing with Scribe, and she's in bad shape."

"I'm on my way!" Wu shut his radio off and dashed for the nearest stairway to the roof. A black helicopter with muffled blades had made its touchdown on the landing pad of the roof. Three agents jumped out, supporting a limp figure between them.

The three on the search team: Peregrine Turner, Esau Pevsner, and Melissa Darknight, were carrying an unconscious Misako between them.

"Misako!" Wu ran forward to help.

"Don't try to help, Wu," Peregrine said gruffly. "She was in a deep state of shock when we found her, and as we were helping her back to the chopper, someone hit her over the head and she was knocked unconscious. We're trying to get her to medicare."

Melissa added quickly, "Tell Dr. Sorcaren to prepare an examination room. She's only barely breathing."

* * *

"Misako . . . please, wake up!" Misako blearily opened her eyes to meet a concerned pair of gray irises gazing down at her. She felt a soft comforter under her back, and a cool new set of clothes on her body. Her muscles, although relaxed and clean, were tired and sore.

She recognized the soft blond hair, gray eyes, and serious face looking at her hopefully. " . . . Wu?" she asked weakly. She tried to sit up, but she winced as her head throbbed with a dull ache.

Wu gently pushed her back into her pillows. "Don't try to sit up, Misako," he said softly. "What you need to do right now is rest. You were hit over the head, and was unconscious and in shock for several hours."

"What─" She blinked again. "Where am I?"

"Medicare ward. Dr. Sorcaren examined you, and said you'll be all right with a couple of days' bed rest." Wu looked at her anxiously. "What happened to you?" he asked.

Misako's eyes glittered with tears as the memories came back to her in a tidal wave of recollections. "He corrupted him," she whispered hoarsely.

Wu's brow creased into a puzzled frown. "Who corrupted whom?"

"Monty," Misako said, and her voice caught in her throat.

Wu's eyes widened. "Oh, Misako." He gently placed a hand on her shoulder as Misako began to sob, finally letting her tears pour down her cheeks.

* * *

Wu left the medicare ward and met his father out in the hallway interconnecting the medi-floor with the stairway leading to the main communal floor.

"How is she?" Father Garmadon asked quietly.

"She's sleeping, for now," Wu replied.

He told his father what Misako had witnessed that night. "She was devastated," he said, scrubbing at his own red-rimmed eyes. "And the rest of the agency will be equally so when they hear the news. Monty was one of our best agents, and a good friend to us all."

Father Garmadon nodded, looking thoughtful. Finally, after several minutes' pause, he spoke. "Wu, I think it's time we contact an old friend of mine."

Wu couldn't suppress a rueful smile. "Who is this mysterious compatriot this time?"

"Miss Catherine S. Lewis, the matron of Ninjago City Orphanage," Father Garmadon answered.

Wu frowned. "Why on earth would we need to contact her?" he asked.

"She's been the ten-year mother of several orphans I've been keeping an eye on," Father Garmadon said simply.

Wu raised an eyebrow. "Are you considering adoption?" he asked dryly.

"Something like that." Father Garmadon raised his eyebrow in return. "They are not any ordinary orphans, my skeptical son. They are the children of eight of our greatest agents. The son and daughter of Agents Blaze and River, the son of Agents Scrap and Junk, the son of Agents Tinker and Icicle, and the son of Agents Dance and Songbird."

Wu's eyes widened for the second time that evening. "You mean Ray and Maya Fiero, Ed and Edna Walker, Daedalus and Katrina Julien, and Lou and Evangeline Brookstone? They died in the field ten years ago! I didn't know they had children!"

"Yes, my son, and they're . . . different from the children of most of our agents. They're more like the children of Agents Hawk, Wave, and Shade. They have . . . inner sources."

Wu's pupils dilated further. " _Elemental_ sources?"

"Yes, but even more powerful than those of Griffin Turner, Jacob Pevsner, and Shade Darknight," Father Garmadon said. "I believe that they are the five Elemental agents destined to protect Monty and Misako's son. We will begin their training tomorrow, once we have collected them from Miss Lewis's care."

"But they're only children!" Wu protested. "We never train agents until they're at least eighteen!"

"But by the time they're eighteen, they'll need to be highly experienced agents if they are to fulfill their duty to protect Lloyd," Father Garmadon said smoothly. "And they shall be training to become part of our Ninja department by the time they turn fifteen. Five years training and another five years in the field should give them plenty of experience."

Wu sighed. "I have a lot of doubts about your judgement, Father, but I'll trust you. Let's call up Miss Lewis."


	17. Agents of Dragon (Unfinished Scene)

**The unfinished 2nd chapter of _Agents of D.R.A.G.O.N.: Serpent's Bite vs. Dragon's Fire/The Elemental Soldiers_.**

* * *

 **Log 0.02: Initiation**

 _(the present)_

Lloyd Garmadon yawned loudly, lazily scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes and stretching his arms like a cat. The sun peeked cautiously through the blinds of his private compartment in D.R.A.G.O.N. living quarters. The rays of light fell on his alarm clock.

" _WHAT THE HECK?!_ " Lloyd's green eyes flew open. " _I overslept?!_ "

The glowing green numbers glared back at him: 9:00. Lloyd slapped his forehead. "Why the heck did I oversleep on the one day Uncle Wu warned me to be up and about at eight?!"

He jumped out of bed and hastily swiped a brush through his windswept blond hair. He stumbled over his skateboard and skidded on D.R.A.G.O.N. training manuals and info pamphlets as he dashed for his closet.

"What now?" He sighed in frustration. "This better not be one of Griffin's pranks." His closet was empty, save for a crisp black dress jacket, a white collared shirt, black dress pants, white socks, and black brogues. A green and black striped tie was hanging over one hanger.

"Huh?" Lloyd frowned skeptically. "I don't remember ever seeing this in my closet before." Then he noticed a name-tag embedded into the breast-pocket of the jacket. " _Lloyd M. Garmadon_?" His frown deepened. "This _has_ to be mine, but only official agents wear suits like this. There's got to be some mistake."

He shrugged. "No time to think about it now; I've already wasted five minutes!"

In two minutes, he was dressed in the suit and heading out the door while adjusting his tie and buttoning up the jacket. _Thank goodness my room is right next to the stairs to the offices,_ he thought, taking the steps two at a time as the stairwell snaked downwards to the next floor.

* * *

D.R.A.G.O.N headquarters had gone through many major changes in the past ten years. Instead of there only being five floors to the secret base, which was cleverly disguised as an office building, it had been expanded to ten floors, five underground and five visible to the outside world. The scientific equipment had been upgraded to the most sophisticated apparatuses known to Ninjago technology, and the D.R.A.G.O.N. tech and science departments had developed even more efficient and modernized agent tools for the field agents.

Most of the agents who had been out in the field ten years ago had retired, either to normal lives or to regular work within the agency. And several new recruits, mostly children of the best agents on the force, had been trained and set up in their respective departments.

Lloyd was a little upset that he had been left behind, when his adult friends Griffin Turner, Jacob Pevsner, Shade Darknight, and Gravis Sorcaren had begun their training when they turned sixteen, and he hadn't. His grandfather, Primal, hadn't explained why they were getting trained earlier than usual agents, only telling Lloyd to be patient and that his turn would come eventually. Father Garmadon still held the official position as head of D.R.A.G.O.N., but Wu, Lloyd's uncle; and Misako, Lloyd's mother, were the two agents entrusted with the duties a more active head would perform.

* * *

Lloyd supposed his mom would be in Wu's office, since his uncle had hinted the matter he had been called to was important, but when he skidded into the office room, only Wu was there, sitting at his desk and sipping a cup of tea.

"I was wondering when you would show up," he said dryly, checking his watch. "Hm. One hour and fifteen minutes late exactly. That's a new record for you."

"I'm sorry, Uncle," Lloyd stammered, nervously fidgeting with the cuffs of his suit jacket. "I'll remember to set my alarm next time, I swear!"

"Or not stay up so late," Wu replied placidly. He had aged quite a bit in the past ten years. Even though he was only almost sixty, he looked much older, with a longish white beard and mustache, and a conical straw hat perched on his head. Lloyd knew that the corruption of his father, Wu's older brother, had sped up his uncle's aging process. Only grief over the loss of a loved one could do that.

"Where's Mom?" Lloyd asked hesitantly.

"Your mother had other business to attend to," Wu replied. "You probably won't see her until tonight, or later." He stood, holding up his hand to silence further questions from his nephew. "Now, I'm assuming you're wondering why I called you here?"

Lloyd merely nodded. "And another assumption I'm about to make is that since you have not begun your D.R.A.G.O.N. training at neither sixteen nor eighteen, you believe you're not going to be an agent?"

Not surprised that his uncle was able to figure that out, Lloyd nodded again. "Well, I'm here to tell you that you're wrong," Wu said, walking past Lloyd and out the door. "Come with me."

Lloyd's eyes lit up. "Does that mean I get to be an agent after all?" he asked hopefully, trying to keep in step with his uncle as they walked past other offices to the elevator at the far end of the hall.

"You shall find out," Wu replied. "Step into the elevator."

Lloyd obeyed, and his uncle slid the door shut behind them. Once they were inside, the older man took a card key from his pocket and swiped it through a slot at the bottom of the floor number dials. _Identification?_ A cool female voice reverberated from a speaker below the slot.

"Creator Delta and Green Master," Wu replied calmly.

 _You may proceed._ The floor number appeared on the screen above the dials as the voice faded.

"'Green Master'?" Lloyd repeated. "Is that me?"

"Yes, that is your elevator identification name," Wu said, handing Lloyd a card key identical to the one he possessed. "You'll need it to get to the floor we're going to. Only a few agents have them."

The floor number flashed on the screen. "Floor #11?" Lloyd was even more confused. "I thought we only had ten floors!"

"There are many things about this agency you have been kept in the dark about, Lloyd," his uncle responded calmly, "mainly for your own protection."

"Oh, yeah?" Lloyd was a little ticked by his uncle's composure about the whole thing. "Like what?"

"Such as . . . where do your friends Griffin, Jacob, Shade, and Gravis go to during the day for agency work?" Wu challenged. "You don't see them anywhere around base during work hours, do you?"

"No, I don't," Lloyd admitted, slightly puzzled. "Where _do_ they go?"

"The same place you'll be going," Wu responded.

Lloyd was getting frustrated by his uncle's cryptic language. "Which is where? Hollywood?" he suggested sarcastically.

"No, it's a little closer than that," Wu answered, still keeping that aggravatingly calm, slightly smug tone to his voice.

Lloyd stamped his foot. "Can you stop beating around the bush and answer my question?"

"Spoken like a true Garmadon, but if you throw a temper tantrum, I won't, and I'll tell the elevator to drop you off at the little agent's room."

Lloyd couldn't stifle a snicker. "Did you say you'd tell the elevator to drop me off at the bathroom?"

Wu frowned. "Is that what 'little agent's room' means now? I thought it meant the nursery."

Lloyd gulped mid-giggle. "No, no, I'm not gonna throw a tantrum," he said quickly. The last thing he wanted was to end up on nursery duty: watching the baby and toddler children of the married agents.

"Good, because we're here. The platinum-sided doors slid open, and Lloyd's eyes widened.

" _Whoa!_ "

The Eleventh Floor was bigger than any of the other floors Lloyd had ever seen. It seemed a little oversized, for while the other ten floors were bustling with activity, this one was veritable desert as far as occupants were concerned. It was within a rectangular cavern, the main atrium surrounded by water which Lloyd guessed had a depth of about twenty to twenty-five feet.

The elevator and the atrium of the Eleventh Floor were connected by a single, sleek path. The atrium was lit by spherical lanterns arranged in a circle along the edge of the large ovular platform


End file.
